A spokesman for the department said it wanted to “safeguard both the physical and psychological health of students through health promotion and disease prevention services, enabling them to gain the maximum benefit from the education system and develop their full potential”.

A self-administered questionnaire by youngsters who went to student health service centres showed that 2.8 per cent of all respondents had considered suicide in the previous 12 months and 1.3 per cent had tried to take their own lives.

The survey included 233,000 primary school pupils and 97,000 at the secondary level.

The rates increased at the secondary school level, where 3.7 per cent had considered ways of ending their lives, and 1.6 per cent had attempted to kill themselves.

The department said on Wednesday night that 2.4 per cent of primary schoolchildren had considered suicide and 1.1 per cent had tried to kill themselves.

The numbers have been on an upward trend over the past few years, with the rise most significant at secondary level.

The rate for suicidal thoughts for secondary pupils in 2018-19 was 2.5 per cent, which meant the 2022-23 figure was up by 48 per cent. The rate for attempted suicide for the older group was 1.1 per cent.

The department said comparison of figures before and after the coronavirus pandemic had to be handled carefully as the number of pupils and ways to attend student health services had changed since 2019-20.

Hong Kong’s post-Covid public health wins and battles in 2023

The latest figures also showed that the percentage of pupils who required a referral to the department’s student assessment centre, specialist clinics or other organisations for psychosocial and behavioural problems had gone up to 1.8 per cent in the 2022-23 school year from 1.1 per cent in 2018-19.

The department said healthcare professionals in student health services had paid extra attention to pupils’ emotional and mental health needs, and provided individual health counselling and advice.

Lee Yi-ying, a secondary school principal and chairwoman of the Subsidised Secondary School Council, said the reasons for pupils’ mental problems in recent years might be because of the adaptation to post-pandemic life.

“As the living pace has become faster when compared to the days during the Covid-19 epidemic, some students may find it hard to adapt to the return of normality,” she said.

Lee added poor sleep quality also made some youngsters become moody and emotional. She said some may also find it difficult to live up to the high expectations of their parents.

The council head appealed to the education authorities to ask schools to share measures they had found effective in identifying children with mental health problems.

Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai of the University of Hong Kong, who has carried out research into suicide, said secondary school pupils tended to face problems that were more complicated than their younger counterparts, which increased their chances of self-harming.

“It could be school bullying or relationships issues,” Yip said. “Academic pressure usually reaches its peak around the time of the Diploma of Secondary Education examination.”

Post-pandemic challenges behind rising pupil suicides: Hong Kong education chief

He added the government should focus more on prevention and tackle mental health problems at their roots, by methods such as the encouragement of good relationships between teachers and pupils.

“If there are any problems arising, students will know how to seek help from classmates and teachers,” Yip said.

Rising suicide rates among youngsters is not unique to Hong Kong.

The rates among young people aged 10 to 24 in the United States jumped by 62 per cent between 2007 and 2021, from 6.8 deaths per 100,000 people to 11.

Suicide among schoolchildren has been in the spotlight recently after a spate of cases.

The number of suspected suicide cases among Hong Kong primary and secondary school pupils increased to 31 last year, more than double the figure recorded in 2018, the Education Bureau has said.

Suspected pupil suicide cases reported by the city’s primary and secondary schools each year from 2018 to 2022 was 14, 23, 21, 25 and 25 respectively.

Earlier studies revealed that the Covid-19 epidemic, where social interactions diminished over the three-year period, had also taken a toll on youngsters’ mental health.

The department’s latest annual health assessment survey also found that schoolchildren’s eyesight had deteriorated and more were overweight, partly because of the effects of the coronavirus lockdowns.

“During the Covid-19 epidemic, class suspension, online classes, decreased outdoor physical activity, together with increased screen time, all imposed higher risks of overweight or obesity and deteriorated vision,” officials said.

The health assessment service found that the percentage of Primary One pupils who needed glasses remained stable at 11 per cent from 2015-16 to 2019-20, but rose to 15 per cent the next year and remained the same in 2022-23.

The percentage of pupils who needed referral to the department’s opticians’ service increased from 9.4 per cent in 2018-19 to 16.7 per cent in 2020-21. The figure showed a drop to 13 per cent in the 2022-23 assessment.

Schoolchildren also failed to maintain an ideal body weight. Before the Covid-19 epidemic, the figures for overweight children, including obesity, were 17.4 per cent for primary pupils and 19.9 per cent for secondary pupils in 2018-19.

But the rates rose to a peak at 20.6 per cent at primary level and 22.1 per cent in secondary schools in 2021-22.

The figures dropped to 19.5 per cent for primary schools and 20.5 per cent at secondary level in the 2022-23 school year.

The health department appealed to pupils to sign up for the annual health assessment service, which includes a physical examination, screenings for health problems related to areas such as growth, nutrition, vision, hearing, scoliosis, and psychosocial health and behaviour.

Enrolment for the service in the present school year is open.