A proposal for a national school mental wellbeing policy and teacher training will be submitted to the Education Ministry in early 2026.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Proposal Paper on the Integration of the Safe School 2.0 Framework, which comprises 11 sections including proposed amendments to the Education Act 1996 and the drafting of new regulations, will be submitted to the Ministry of Education (MOE) in the first quarter (Q1) of next year.
Chief researcher of the proposal paper, Associate Professor Datuk Dr Monna Ong View Siew said among the key pillars proposed is a National School Mental Wellbeing Policy, which will serve as an overarching framework to ensure that programmes related to mental and psychological safety are implemented in a structured and integrated manner.
She said findings from today’s dialogue session showed that teachers are the first point of psychological contact for students, as most students are more comfortable sharing their problems with class teachers who interact with them daily, rather than with counselling teachers.
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“Therefore, psychological first aid (PFA) training should be introduced for all teachers, not only counselling teachers, to help them understand behavioural changes and trauma experienced by students,” she said at the forum ‘From Their Eyes, A Youth Dialogue on Safety, Stress and Support’ at Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT) here today.
In addition to the role of teachers, Monna said relationships between students, parents and schools also need to be strengthened, as many students involved in the forum were reluctant to share their problems with their parents, even though parental involvement is crucial, especially for more serious issues.
In this regard, she proposed that mental health literacy programmes for parents be implemented through Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) so that parents have a basic understanding of their children’s psychological aspects.
She said the proposal paper also recommends the establishment of a national coordination mechanism involving schools, MOE, the Ministry of Health, clinical service providers and all relevant ministries to work together under a single council to provide holistic support for students.
During the forum, six student representatives from upper secondary classes at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Maxwell, Sekolah Menengah Sultan Sulaiman Terengganu and TAR UMT shared their views, highlighting that good relationships between students and teachers, as well as fair treatment, can create space for students to express the problems and stress they face.
The group of students said they were more comfortable sharing their problems with classmates and teachers rather than with parents, as they did not want to burden their parents with the academic pressures or issues they faced.
They also suggested the provision of designated spaces in schools as safe areas for students to release stress if they are not yet ready to share their problems with teachers or peers.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the TAR UMT Board of Governors and Alumni Council, Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy said the organisation of such forums is important because policies involving the younger generation should not be shaped solely based on adult assumptions.
“Students’ personal experiences and voices must be taken into account to ensure that any policy to be implemented is more relevant and effective,” he said.
Chan said the efforts of the TAR UMT research team demonstrate how academic research findings can be translated into practical insights to support evidence-based policy formulation towards long-term education reform. – Bernama
