Schools in La Trinidad cool on LGU’s mental health break appeal

February 21, 2021 Provincial

La Trinidad, Benguet (February 17, 2021) – Different schools and educational institutions in La Trinidad, Benguet’s capital town, are heeding to the call of the municipal government to routinely conduct mental health breaks to ensure mental health wellness among pupils and students.
Only recently, educational institutions from primary to secondary and college level sent their educators, education facilitators and guidance counselors for a brainstorming session where they, together with the representatives from the La Trinidad LGU shared and discussed appropriate strategies to advance the mental health and well-being of the school children and youth in the town.
Earlier, members of the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) unanimously passed a resolution requesting educational institutions in the municipality to come up with steps in promoting mental health wellness among the school children and the youth.
The municipal councilors also requested the Municipal Inter-Agency Task Force (MIATF) to ease mobility restrictions during the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) to lighten up the hassle of such to the youth. This after La Trinidad mayor Romeo Salda acknowledged the alarming rise of suicides in the capital town as he appealed to his town mates to be a “supportive community” in battling depression many, especially the youth, are going through.
A 13 year old school child in La Trinidad took his own life on February 8, after a supposed painful struggle with his school modules and depression, even enhanced by his feeling of helplessness an not able to go out from their home because of the restrictions. A 14 year-old school child also took his own life in the town a week before that harrowing incident.
La Trinidad local legislators were also alarmed on the report of the counselors and mental health practitioners that only a few number of students seek consultations. The councilors acknowledged the current set-up of education cause mental stress because of the modular and long distance method of learning and the feeling of helplessness pushes children to take unimaginary actions, even taking their own lives.
They added there is a need to cushion the effects of the education set-up to the learners. According to the La Trinidad SB, the mobility restrictions also limits opportunities for mental health breaks and the essential purposes under existing IATF guidelines do not include mental health wellness.
Artemio A. Dumlao/ABN