Surveys: Students suffering from emotional distress, poor mental health

Vulnerable: The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of students in schools and higher education institutions. — Filepic

THE Covid-19 pandemic has unleashed various forms of emotional distress on people.

Within the education sector alone, students have had to manage the uncertainty of the opening and closing of educational institutions, on top of juggling their studies.

And for many youths, this has not been an easy feat.

An online survey by the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Tun Tan Cheng Lock Centre for Social and Policy Studies (TCLC) showed that an alarming 85% of respondents – most of whom undergraduates – were also reeling from emotional distress linked to Covid-19.The study, which stretched over two weeks in September, comprised 520 respondents aged between 16 and 30 years old.

Of the 442 who suffered emotional distress, 80.3% of respondents said the fear of being infected by the highly-infectious disease was a main factor, while 70.1% cited challenges linked to online teaching and learning and working from home as the reason, TCLC chairperson Dr Chin Yee Mun told StarEdu.

“Some 51.6% said financial difficulties were a contributing factor, while a number of respondents cited family conflicts as one of their main causes of emotional stress,” he said.The UTAR study results were echoed by a Digi Telecommunications nationwide survey conducted among 1,746 students aged below 21.

Almost half of the respondents said they did not experience positivity in life, with 44% suffering mild to extremely severe perceived depressive symptoms.

Titled “Life Under Covid-19 for Children Online: Values & Challenges (2021)”, the survey was jointly conducted with Sunway University from August to September.

The findings among school students were equally worrying.During a mental health screening that was jointly conducted by the Education and Health Ministries between June and August, more than 100,000 Years Five and Six pupils from the total 818,430 screened were reported to be at risk of suffering from sadness, depression and lack of interest in their studies.

While 87.45% of the pupils did not show signs of prolonged feelings of sadness, depression or lack of interest in performing additional work, the remaining 12.55% were categorised as being at risk of having such issues.

A total of 1,737,755 students from remove and Form Six classes also underwent similar screenings where it was found that anxiety and depression were the main issues affecting them.The mental health screenings were done to allow for early detection of pupils who have emotional issues, the Education Ministry told the Dewan Rakyat last month.