Prologue Journal

Hong Kong school students happier than last year but sense of purpose in life falls to 7-year low, survey finds

• prologu5
• 10/10/202410/10/2024

Hong Kong Free Press

Hong Kong primary and secondary school students were happier than they were last year, an annual survey has found, but their sense of purpose in life fell to a seven-year low as an expert highlighted the need for more resilience.

The pupils scored 6.75 out of 10 on a happiness index, an improvement from 6.62 last year, local media reported on Wednesday citing the study that interviewed about 3,500 students between March and May.

Professor Ho Lok-sang of the Lingnan University said the rise could be attributed to students having less stress in their studies in the past year. The study also found that pupils reported feeling less academic stress than last year.

But the “life-worth-living” index was 6.73 out of 10, its lowest in seven years.

Ho said that pupils lacked interactions with peers during the Covid-19 pandemic, when face-to-face schooling was suspended. Parents had placed a strong emphasis on catching up on academic progress since schooling resumed, he added.

“After the pandemic, parents felt the need to help students… but instead they were [focused on] boosting [pupil’s] academic results,” Ho said in Cantonese. “It is common that parents value results, but I would say it creates a toxic environment.”

As a result, students found it difficult to set goals outside of their studies, which affected their sense of purpose in life, Ho said.

The study was conducted by Lingnan University, University of Hong Kong, and Chinese University of Hong Kong, with respondents coming from nine primary schools and 10 secondary schools.

Results also showed that about one in five respondents had reported being bullied in the past year. Among primary grade four and five pupils, close to 25 per cent said they had been subject to verbal or physical bullying.

See also: 1 in 3 Hong Kong upper primary students have been bullied at school, survey finds

A “no-bullying” index dropped to 3.65 out of five. The higher the figure, the less common bullying was among respondents.

This was the first year the study included Shenzhen, where students reported lower happiness and a lower sense of purpose than pupils in Hong Kong.

Ho said the lack of interpersonal communication during Covid had led to a rise of bullying in schools, as students could easily misspeak due to insufficient interpersonal skills.

Hong Kong has seen a rise in youth suicides in the past year, with the suicide rate for girls under 15 increasing seven-fold, according to figures published earlier by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention. Some experts had identified bullying in schools as a cause for the rise.

Ho said schools should further implement life education, which could strengthen students’ resilience towards hardships.

The study, which also interviewed 152 teachers, found that only 39.1 per cent of them had received life education training.

The scholar said life education could help students find purpose and meaning in life, which could address the “root cause” of student suicide.

The government implemented a three-tier emergency mechanism for identifying students with suicidal tendencies last year after cases of youth suicide surged.

Ho described the mechanism as “too late” to tackle the issue, adding parents and schools should help students find other life goals and build up self-esteem.

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https://hongkongfp.com/2024/10/10/hong-kong-school-students-happier-than-last-year-but-sense-of-purpose-in-life-falls-to-7-year-low-survey-finds/