Education movement underway to reduce overemphasis on academic results and strengthen students' resilience

多管齐下照顾学生心理健康

谨答复《联合早报·交流站》于12月15日刊登的姚其骝读者投函《为青少年减压刻不容缓》及12月21日的韩英读者投函《中小学生减负问题》：

我们感谢姚其骝读者肯定教育部同家长和社区协作，改善青少年心理健康的努力，也感谢他关于通过减少课业量来进一步减少青少年压力，以及帮助学习较弱的学生减少校外补习的反馈。韩英读者也提出了相关的意见。

我们学生的心理健康受到生活里不同因素的影响。作为数码原住民，一些学生如今会面对更大的跟同辈攀比的社会压力。另一些则在学习如何在社交、人际关系与学习之间保持平衡。

就如12月21日"站长的话"所指出的，学生也可能必须面对自我设定，或来自家庭对他们学习成绩和个人成就的高期待。持续的冠病疫情也让学生面对的压力和焦虑雪上加霜。

教育部和学校通过不同方式来提高学生的心理健康。除了同学互助、辅导员和校外专业人士，我们也积极调整课业量，以便学生在学习之外，有时间和空间休息并追求个人爱好。

例如，为了减缓疫情所带来的焦虑，我们取消了小学三年级和四年级的年终考试，以确保学生的健全发展和福祉。取消考试让学生不必在课堂赶进度。老师也确保学生的作业量——无论是在线上或在课堂——在符合校方要求的前提下保持合理程度。

对于那些在课业上需要额外帮助的学生，我们的小学提供英文、数学和母语的辅助学习。对那些学习进度落后的学生，学校也提供额外的在校辅导课。一些学校更与社区组织如自助理事会合作，为有需要的学生提供相关的辅助学习。

这些由校方所提供的支援，若得到家长和监护人的配合及关注，将会更加有效。教育部会持续跟家长和社区紧密合作。我们正加强学校的家长支援小组（简称PSG），让它们拓展使命，更好地联系和帮助家长群体，特别是在孩子的心理健康方面。社区与家长辅助学校理事会（简称COMPASS）也开始提供协助，让PSG能更好地履行职责。例如COMPASS最近在面簿直播一场对话会，探讨为未来做好准备的人，应具备哪些特质，以及父母该如何为孩子扩大对于成功的定义。

在更广的层面，我们就"学无止境"（Learn for Life）计划做出系统性调整，培养终身乐学的态度，减少对考试成绩的重视，并改变社会对成功的定义。这些改变需要时间。我们将继续注重我们学生的心理健康，确保任何新发生的问题和需要得到关注，并完善我们对学生的支持。

教育部课程政策办公室司长
王有成

We are grateful for Mr Yao Qi Liu's recognition of the Ministry of Education (MOE)'s efforts to work with parents and the community to strengthen support for our youths' mental well-being ("为青少年减压刻不容缓", 15 Dec). We appreciate his feedback to further lower stress faced by youths by reducing academic load, and helping academically weaker students to reduce tuition outside of school, as well as similar concerns shared by Ms Han Ying ("中小学生减负问题", 21 Dec).

Our students' mental well-being can be influenced by many stress factors in life. Growing up as digital natives, some students today may face increased social pressure arising from comparisons with others. Others are learning to balance their social life and personal relationships with their academic pursuits. Students may also grapple with self-imposed or family's high expectations for their academic and personal achievements – an observation also shared by Lianhe Zaobao's forum editor ("站长的话", 21 Dec). The prolonged COVID-19 situation would have also created additional stress and anxiety for students.

MOE and our schools seek to bolster students' mental well-being in various ways. Besides making available support from peers, school counsellors, and professionals outside of schools, we have taken active steps to calibrate academic load so that students can thrive in school, while still having the time and space for rest and personal pursuits.

For instance, to mitigate some of the anxieties caused by COVID-19 disruptions, we cancelled the year-end examinations for Primary 3 and 4 students, so that we could safeguard students' development and well-being. This avoided the need to rush completing the syllabus or to prepare students for assessment. Our teachers also seek to ensure that students' homework load – both online and offline – is kept manageable, guided by their school's homework policy.

For students who need some extra help with their academic subjects, our primary schools offer learning support programmes catering to students weaker in subjects such as English, Mathematics and the Mother Tongue Languages. School-based remediation programmes are also organised for students who need additional support to bridge their learning gaps. Some schools also partner community organisations like Self-Help Groups to offer learning support to those in need.

Such support rendered by schools is most effective when paired with care and attention from parents and guardians. MOE will continue working closely with parents and the community. We are strengthening our partnerships with Parent Support Groups (PSGs) in schools so that they can also expand their role to connect with and render relevant support to their parent communities better, especially in the area of mental well-being of their children. The "COMmunity and PArents in Support of Schools" ("COMPASS") council has also initiated efforts to equip our PSGs to play these roles better. For example, COMPASS recently organised a Facebook Live dialogue session to discuss the traits and qualities that make for a future-ready individual, and the need for parents to broaden the definitions of success for their children.

On a broader front, we have made systemic changes under the Learn for Life movement to nurture the joy of learning throughout life, to reduce an overemphasis on academic grades, and to engender a mindset change towards definitions of success in society. These mindset changes will take time. We will continue to monitor the well-being of our students to ensure that we address any emerging issues or needs, and fine tune support for our students.

Mr Heng Yew Seng
Director, Curriculum Policy Office
Ministry of Education