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SINGAPORE: Teachers will not be expected to do everything, said Education Minister Heng Swee Keat on Sunday.
Mr Heng was at the sidelines of a community sports event and was commenting on the recent announcement that teachers would be trained to understand mental health issues amongst youth and that this would be part and parcel of their work.
The Education Ministry had also called for a tender last week to train Normal (Technical) and Normal (Academic) teachers to understand common mental disorders among youths like self-harm and eating disorders.
In response, sociologist Paulin Straughan had written in to the TODAY newspaper cautioning against placing too many responsibilities on teachers, who already clock long hours. They should not be required to do more than referring at-risk students to trained counsellors, she said.
Asked about the aim of mental health training for teachers on Saturday, Mr Heng said: "We want to train our teachers to be able to help students acquire good habits of managing themselves and managing mental wellness. I think that's an important life skill."
But he emphasised that this will be done together with other groups, parents, and the broader community.
"I think it's important we manage the workload of teachers as well…these are skills which are part and parcel of work but we should not expect that the teacher will do everything," he said.
Mr Heng also shared with reporters what he gleaned from attending the OECD-Japan Seminar on education reform in Tokyo last week, his first overseas trip as Education Minister.
Singapore's presentation on developing 21st century competencies in students - such as the inculcating of values, a sense of responsibility, care for the community as well as resilience - was well-received, said Mr Heng.
He visited an elementary school and a high school in Tokyo.
Of particular interest was how the Japanese demonstrated civic-consciousness and fortitude in the face of the recent earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters. Children are taught to take care of one another and be considerate in school, and this is supported "by a broader social environment," he noted.
Asked how Singapore could achieve this, Mr Heng said it was something society would have to discuss and improve on.
He said: "The Japanese are probably at the forefront of this, in that people show such care for others."
At Sunday's Community Sports Festival at North East, Mr Heng was joined by fellow Tampines Members of Parliament Baey Yam Keng and Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Minister of State for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs.
Some 3,000 residents participated in activities like badminton, floorball and a mass walk. The sports festivals of all five community development councils will culminate in the islandwide One Community Walk on July 24.
-CNA/ac
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