It's being reported that guidance counselors employed to public schools have been under tremendous pressure since the resumption of face-to-face classes dealing with mental health issues affecting students.
President of the Jamaica Association of Guidance Counselors in Education, Tracey-Ann Taffe Thompson, says the situation is compounded by the fact that there's only a small cadre of guidance counsellors.
In some instances one guidance counselor is assigned to 600 students.
According to Thompson more students are now in need of counseling and the disruption by the pandemic caused a backlog in the number of students requiring attention.
Meanwhile, the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools is worried about the lack of resources to deal with the high number of students in need of mental health support.
President of the Association, Linvern Wright, says schools are overwhelmed and state agencies are struggling to keep up with referrals.
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