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Schoolchildren face more mental health problems

DUBAI - Absence of health counsellors in schools has contributed to a rise in mental health problems in students and nearly 13 per cent of them considered attempting suicide during the past 12 months, reveals a study conducted by the UAE Ministry of Health for the Global School-Based Health Survey last year.

Talking to Khaleej Times, Dr Mariam Matroushi, Director Central School Health Department, MoH, said that there was a great need for counsellors in schools so that they can guide the children at every step. "In an initiative taken by MoH, school nurses were trained for clinical counselling of schoolchildren," explained Dr Mariam.

She said that the presence of counsellors was necessary so that students with mental and psycho-social problems could be filtered and treated at an impressionable age.

"The MoH started the programme in April in public schools and it was in this context that some nurses were trained," she noted.

Dr Mariam said that poor dietary behaviour, lack of physical activity and increasing mental health problems would be the challenges facing the health authorities in future. "If we can compare ourselves with other countries, we are still doing better," she said. New laws and policies would be implemented at a national level addressing the various concerns, she said.

Almost 35.2 per cent of schoolchildren in the UAE felt dejected almost every day for two weeks or more in a row to the extent that they stopped their usual activities. Even more worrisome was that a large percentage (20.8 per cent) of the children were bullied on one or more days during the past 30 days during the survey that was conducted during a month-long period in mid 2005.

According to the survey, 9.8 per cent of schoolchildren also made plans about how they would attempt suicide during the past 12 months.

Almost 31.9 per cent of the students had been physically attacked one or more times during the past 12 months and 30.7 per cent of them were seriously injured two or more times.