By Kelly Ho

Copyright hongkongfp

Hong Kong’s emergency mechanism, designed to identify and support students at risk of suicide, will be expanded to cover upper primary school pupils, Chief Executive John Lee has announced.

The Three-tier School-based Emergency Mechanism, rolled out in December 2023 amid an upward trend in student suicides, will become a permanent policy to strengthen support for those in need, Lee said in his 2025 Policy Address speech on Wednesday.

The mechanism, which currently only covers secondary schools, will be introduced to Primary Four to Primary Six students on a trial basis, he said. It is expected to take place within the current academic year, according to the annexe of the annual policy blueprint.

The Hong Kong leader said on Wednesday that his administration placed “great importance on the public’s mental health.”

Training will be provided to school social workers to enhance their capabilities in handling students’ mental health issues, using funds from a HK$500 million dedicated fund he set up in the 2023 Policy Address, Lee said.

Next year, the government will also introduce a “special recognition category” to commend schools and organisations that arrange for a specific number of employees to receive mental health training.

Other mental health-related initiatives highlighted by Lee on Wednesday include launching a pilot programme to mobilise and train mental health promotion ambassadors to promote healthy lifestyles.

The Department of Health is also set to update its guidelines on social media to address the impact on children and teenagers.

The chief executive also pledged to expand free mental health assessments and follow-up services from three to six more district health centres next year.

Heather Yeung, a member of the Hong Kong Student Alliance on Student Suicide, told HKFP on Wednesday that the group welcomed the extension of the emergency mechanism to primary schools because the group’s previous findings showed that the students who took their lives in recent years could be as young as seven.

See also: ‘Actually I am not happy’: Hong Kong seeks new strategies to stem rise in student suicides

“Primary students have different emotional distress, and they have different extents of suicidal thoughts. Therefore, we are glad to see the three-tier emergency mechanism being extended to upper primary,” Yeung said in Cantonese.

“Primary students have different emotional distress, and they have different extents of suicidal thoughts. Therefore, we are glad to see the three-tier emergency mechanism being extended to upper primary,” Yeung said in Cantonese.

The overall suicide rate in the city rose from 13.5 per 100,000 people in 2023 to 14.1 in 2024, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention (CSRP) announced in a study earlier this month.

Suicides among teenagers, however, showed a significant decrease from 1.5 to 0.8. Despite the decline, the suicide rate among those aged 15 to 25 remained high.

The three-tier response mechanism may not be very effective, CSRP director Paul Yip said, because it focuses on high-risk teenagers, while the remaining students may be overlooked.

The three-tier cross-departmental response system focuses on the early identification of students with a higher suicide risk or mental health needs and organising an off-campus support network to help schools with manpower shortages meet the needs of students.

Students with severe mental health needs will be referred to psychiatric specialists under the Hospital Authority.