KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 – The percentages of both primary and secondary school students exhibiting signs of anxiety and depression have mostly been on the decline for the last three school sessions to September of this year, according to the Ministry of Education (MOE) in a written Dewan Rakyat reply yesterday.
Wangsa Maju MP Zahir Hassan had asked for the statistics on mental health problems among school students for the last five years as the 2019 National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) findings showed that 7.9 per cent (424,000) of students were affected.
“MOE together with the Ministry of Health (MOH) have implemented the Healthy Mind Screening Programme as an early detection measure to identify students at risk of experiencing mental health problems such as early signs of depression and anxiety,” said Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek in her response.
“This screening is conducted annually for all students from standard five to form six nationwide.”
Based on the screenings, the percentage of primary school students at risk of showing early signs of depression decreased from 36.42 per cent for the 2022/2023 session to 35.50 per cent for the 2023/2024 session.
The number dipped substantially to 6.18 per cent for the 2024/2025 session and is at 5.39 per cent until September 2025.
The screenings also indicate that the percentage of primary school students exhibiting early signs of anxiety declined from 6.52 per cent for the 2022/2023 session to 6.23 per cent for the 2023/2024 session, but went up slightly to 6.69 per cent for the 2024/2025 session.
As of September this year, 5.75 per cent of primary school students showed early signs of anxiety.
In secondary schools, the percentage of students who displayed early signs of severe depression decreased from 2.21 per cent for the 2022/2023 session to 1.72 per cent for the 2023/2024 session.
The number continued to plummet to 0.91 per cent for the 2024/2025 session and is at 0.80 per cent as of September 2025
Among secondary school students, the percentage exhibiting early signs of severe anxiety decreased from 4.83 per cent in the 2022/2023 to 3.57 per cent in the 2023/2024 session.
The number further dipped to 2.21 per cent for the 2024/2025 session and is at 2.01 per cent until September 2025.
“This decrease demonstrates the effectiveness of early detection, psychosocial support programmes, and focused interventions implemented in schools,” Fadhlina said.
“These efforts are in line with a continued prevention approach to ensuring student wellbeing.”
Zahir also wanted to know if the government plans to establish periodic mental health screenings in schools.
“MOE is currently implementing the Healthy Mind School Programme which aims to psychosocially empower, support students’ socio-emotional wellbeing, and provide interventions to identified students,” Fadhlina responded.
“This programme includes Healthy Mind promotion, screening and intervention, as well as consultations with the students’ parents and guardians.”
She added that Healthy Mind screenings are conducted once a year for all students from standard five to form six.
For students identified as having severe and extremely severe mental health problems, the screenings are conducted twice a year.
