Suicidal Rates in Singapore
A serious issue in Singapore that has rapidly risen over the years would be increasing suicide
rates within the Youth Community. As reported by Smaritans of Singapore (2020), the
leading cause of death aged between 10 to 29 years old is suicide. The report also shows
that from 2019 to 2020, there was a 10 per cent increase in the suicide rates (Smartians of
Singapore, 2020). In Singapore, suicide and mental illness are perceived as a taboo. Hence,
this social stigma reduces the efforts to decrease the rates of suicide. The high suicide rates
among youths is a problem in Singapore and there are a few existing approaches set in
place by the Government to mitigate this issue which is the assistance of Counsellors in the
schools. A proposed solution would be to construct a step-by-step process on how to
effectively handle these suicide cases which require a collaborative effort by Ministries and
Singapore’s Public Services just as how it is carried out by the State Government of Victoria
in Australia (Australian Government of Health, 2014).
Suicide among youths is a major issue in Singapore due to Social and Environmental factors
within the society plus the structures which contributes to the individual’s intention to
suicide (World Health Organization, 2020). Singapore is a society where excellence is
prominently expected in every aspect such as workplace, schools and marriages. Society
has crafted an image of how perfect their lives should be and they should meet the
expectations. In addition, youths are in an impressionable age where they are susceptible
to external environment (Gwon, SH, Jeong, S., 2018) such as pressurizing education
system (Jelita, 2017). Thus, youths may be pressured to the unrealistic societal
expectations and they may not be able to handle if their reality does not meet them. An
example would be, in 2016 a Primary School student age 11 commit suicide on the day of
1
, Suicidal Rates in Singapore
his mid-year examination results as he was fearful of revealing his poor grades to his
parents (Hussain, 2016). This further proves the inability of youths handling problems and
failures. Also, portrayals of suicides as a selfish decision adds on to the stress and feeling of
hopelessness to youths who are affected which further aggravates their mental state.
During the current pandemic season in Singapore, mental awareness clinics and services
such as “outpatient rehab/therapy services and other allied health services such as dietetics,
counselling, social work, psychologist (and) podiatry” were all closed as they were
considered as non-essential services by the Ministry of Health (Ong & Meah, 2020). This
further displays the social stigma Singapore has on issues pertaining to one’s mental state.
As such, troubled youths driven to suicide do not have adequate support to counsel them
and help them from their drastic decisions.
A measure that has been implemented by the Singapore Government is the assistance of
School Counsellors. The main purpose of a Counsellor is to provide emotional and social
support to students facing development difficulties such as emotional, relationship and
family problems. They help to identify their difficulties and guide them accordingly.
Although, they are made aware to the stakeholders – parents, teachers and students -
counsellors are still ineffective as there is no significant difference made to the rates. This
could be due to the lack of support from the Education system. One such example would be
the ratio of counsellors to the number of students they are able to handle in a year. There
might be insufficient counsellors available to students in need due to the large number of
students needing counselling. Thus, they are unable to provide proper guidance for those
students who need support which makes them ineffective. In addition, some stakeholders
do not take counsellors seriously due to the societal norm which is for the students to be all-
rounded with great achievements. This can be supported by Kok’s statement where
2
A serious issue in Singapore that has rapidly risen over the years would be increasing suicide
rates within the Youth Community. As reported by Smaritans of Singapore (2020), the
leading cause of death aged between 10 to 29 years old is suicide. The report also shows
that from 2019 to 2020, there was a 10 per cent increase in the suicide rates (Smartians of
Singapore, 2020). In Singapore, suicide and mental illness are perceived as a taboo. Hence,
this social stigma reduces the efforts to decrease the rates of suicide. The high suicide rates
among youths is a problem in Singapore and there are a few existing approaches set in
place by the Government to mitigate this issue which is the assistance of Counsellors in the
schools. A proposed solution would be to construct a step-by-step process on how to
effectively handle these suicide cases which require a collaborative effort by Ministries and
Singapore’s Public Services just as how it is carried out by the State Government of Victoria
in Australia (Australian Government of Health, 2014).
Suicide among youths is a major issue in Singapore due to Social and Environmental factors
within the society plus the structures which contributes to the individual’s intention to
suicide (World Health Organization, 2020). Singapore is a society where excellence is
prominently expected in every aspect such as workplace, schools and marriages. Society
has crafted an image of how perfect their lives should be and they should meet the
expectations. In addition, youths are in an impressionable age where they are susceptible
to external environment (Gwon, SH, Jeong, S., 2018) such as pressurizing education
system (Jelita, 2017). Thus, youths may be pressured to the unrealistic societal
expectations and they may not be able to handle if their reality does not meet them. An
example would be, in 2016 a Primary School student age 11 commit suicide on the day of
1
, Suicidal Rates in Singapore
his mid-year examination results as he was fearful of revealing his poor grades to his
parents (Hussain, 2016). This further proves the inability of youths handling problems and
failures. Also, portrayals of suicides as a selfish decision adds on to the stress and feeling of
hopelessness to youths who are affected which further aggravates their mental state.
During the current pandemic season in Singapore, mental awareness clinics and services
such as “outpatient rehab/therapy services and other allied health services such as dietetics,
counselling, social work, psychologist (and) podiatry” were all closed as they were
considered as non-essential services by the Ministry of Health (Ong & Meah, 2020). This
further displays the social stigma Singapore has on issues pertaining to one’s mental state.
As such, troubled youths driven to suicide do not have adequate support to counsel them
and help them from their drastic decisions.
A measure that has been implemented by the Singapore Government is the assistance of
School Counsellors. The main purpose of a Counsellor is to provide emotional and social
support to students facing development difficulties such as emotional, relationship and
family problems. They help to identify their difficulties and guide them accordingly.
Although, they are made aware to the stakeholders – parents, teachers and students -
counsellors are still ineffective as there is no significant difference made to the rates. This
could be due to the lack of support from the Education system. One such example would be
the ratio of counsellors to the number of students they are able to handle in a year. There
might be insufficient counsellors available to students in need due to the large number of
students needing counselling. Thus, they are unable to provide proper guidance for those
students who need support which makes them ineffective. In addition, some stakeholders
do not take counsellors seriously due to the societal norm which is for the students to be all-
rounded with great achievements. This can be supported by Kok’s statement where
2
