May is Mental Health Awareness month. For Hong Kong, where stress is almost a given, it is good to see the results of the annual happiness survey conducted by HK. WeCARE, a concern group under Wofoo Social Enterprises. It revealed that the city’s family happiness index score had improved for the first time in three years.
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This is encouraging. Hong Kong families scored 6.91 out of 10 on the happiness index, up from 6.43 last year. According to Daniel Shek Tan-lei, a former chairman of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau’s Family Council and current associate vice-president of Polytechnic University, there are two likely reasons for the improvement: the economy is picking up and families are adapting to post-pandemic life.
The survey findings were not entirely positive, though. The family happiness index score was still lower than the 7.26 recorded in 2021. One of most important insights was that families with children aged six to 12 were the least happy, which could be attributed to stressful environments in primary schools, according to mental health experts.
The stress starts young in this city, but the survey highlights how the academic stress in primary schools affects both a child and their family. The story is a familiar one for many of us. The hurdles we set for children are high, starting with primary school admissions.
As a parent, I can relate to the intense stress involved in that process. It is easy to understand why getting children into what are called “through-train” schools, where students do not need to go through the admissions process again for secondary school, is so desired and thus more competitive. But whether getting into these schools means less stress during primary school is another matter and, from what we have seen – especially in elite schools – the academic demands for excellence are not for the faint-hearted.
Those whose children are not attending “through-train” schools know they must push them to be top performers to get into leading secondary schools. In some cases, that means getting their children into the top class in the school. It’s not hard to imagine the sort of stress that puts on the family.
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