Fear of losing face cause of teen mental breakdown – Ghani

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SIBU: The ‘kiasu’ attitude among parents has been singled out as the probable root cause of youths suffering from mental health problems as they face enormous pressure to excel academically.

According to Sarawak Teachers’ Union (STU) president William Ghani Bina, some parents, not wanting to lose face, have demanded their children to be the best in both the school and public examinations.

This, said Ghani, was partly due to the situation in today’s society that had evolved to only hold in high esteem the best.

“The society’s attitude has evolved over time and with that comes higher expectations. Hence, these poor kids are pushed beyond their limit and pressured to excel beyond their own capability. They are going from one tuition centre to another, leaving them with no time to enjoy their childhood years.

“And they when fail to meet their parents’ expectations, they are chided and compared with neighbours or friends’ children thus, hurting their self-esteem,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.

Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development Datuk Fatimah Abdullah was reported to have said youths between the ages of 16 and 24 were found to be suffering from mental health problems, especially due to stress.

To nip the problem at the bud, Fatimah was also quoted to have said the Ministry of Health would be working together with the Ministry of Education to conduct the ‘Healthy Mind Screening’ programme in schools for early detection of mental health problems.

The programme would also share information among students on ways to reduce stress and provide counselling services if required.

While giving thumbs up to the initiative, Ghani called on institutions of higher learning to tailor their courses according to the manpower needs of the market.

“Graduates will be hard pressed and under tremendous amount of stress upon discovering they are not able to get a job because their degrees are not marketable or not relevant to the job market’s needs after having spent so much time and money,” he said.

Citing plantations as an example, he suggested degrees could be tailored according to the needs of the industry.

He also suggested that better pay and remunerations be provided to plantation workers.

This, he added, would attract more locals and would gradually do away with the dependency on foreign workers.