Tuesday, July 8, 2025
By JADE RUSSELL
Tribune Staff Reporter
jrussell@tribunemedia.net
EDUCATION Director Dominique McCartney-Russell called the finding that one in five Bahamian teens have attempted suicide “shocking”, noting the Ministry of Education has logged only a handful of such incidents. She said students often hesitate to disclose their struggles to school officials.
“It’s not like my head is in the clouds,” said Mrs McCartney-Russell, acknowledging the mental health challenges among students. Still, she found the data surprising, as internal reports over the years show few documented suicide attempts — a disparity she attributes to students’ discomfort in opening up to teachers or administrators.
Her comments followed the release of the third Global School Health Survey, which examines issues facing Bahamian youth, from substance use and sexual health to mental well-being and community support.
The report found that teen outcomes have declined in two-thirds of the 54 indicators tracked since 1998. Among the most alarming: 20 percent of teens have attempted suicide, and nearly 25 percent have contemplated it.
Conducted by the Ministry of Health and Wellness with PAHO support, the survey polled over 2,200 students aged 12 to 18 across 35 public and private schools on eight islands.
Mrs McCartney-Russell said the survey’s anonymity gave students space to be honest about their mental health and welcomed the opportunity it provided for them to express themselves.
“Sometimes students are not honest with their teachers,” she said. “We have to also provide more opportunities where students feel like they have a safe space to be that honest, as they were in that survey.”
She said the ministry has launched mental health initiatives but acknowledged calls from students and teachers for stronger support systems.
“We have began focusing on mental health because our students have said to us that we needed to have more mental health programmes,” she said. “So they may not have said to us that they were struggling with those things, with suicidal ideation. But they have certainly said to us more mental health programmes need to be in our schools.”
Mrs McCartney-Russell said the ministry has tracked incidents over the years, typically reported by a team member or school principal.
“We’ve had where it has been a handful of attempted cases,” she said, noting that these typically result in counselling for both student and parent.
The report, she said, underscores the need for a multi-agency strategy. She confirmed the Ministry of Education is working with the Ministry of Health on a national response plan.
She also revealed that an advisory board will review the Health and Family Life curriculum to better reflect the challenges students face today.
Nearly 28 percent of teens reported persistent sadness and hopelessness, and 26 percent said they often felt lonely — more than double the 11 percent reported in 1998. Sleep loss due to worry rose from 14 percent in 2013 to 20 percent in 2023. Self-harm without suicidal intent jumped from 10 percent in 1998 to 27 percent in 2023.
Substance abuse was also a concern: 74 percent of teens had tried alcohol, up from 32 percent in 1998.
Fewer than half of sexually active teens (47.7 percent) used a condom during their last encounter — despite broad awareness about STI prevention. Dr Moxey noted this gap may be contributing to the rise in STIs reported by the National HIV/AIDS Programme.
Comments
bogart says...
The levels of academic performance of the students is linked to a multitude of issues and academic grade levels continues to be at under par levels for years.
School teachers have been doing at phenomenal overburdened jobs in many cases being a substitute parent where parent(s) themselves cannot impart to children what parent(s) do not know or struggling to cope with themselves, teachers pushing their hands into their salary to buy needed items for students, being teachers in other areas as, language, cultural assimilation, conflict resolutions and other challenges.
Bahamian school teachers should ALSO be surveyed to reveal their teachers challenges and the many other roles teachers do in addition to academic teaching for academic grade levels.
Posted 8 July 2025, 11:40 a.m. Suggest removal
birdiestrachan says...
Please interview some of the parents.of these.children . Then before I will buy this story. There may be some actors and actress in this matter.
Posted 8 July 2025, 11:54 a.m. Suggest removal
Sickened says...
I agree with the first part Birdie. The parents of all of those children need to be interviewed to ensure that the household is safe and supportive.
Although good kids with good parents also get depressed and suicidal for no obvious reasons, there are many kids that consider suicide as a direct result of something that is going on at home.
It is sad when kids are not happy as their lives should be about chasing rainbows and looking for hidden treasure. Once they turn 18 it is understandable that they become as depressed and sour as their working parents.
Posted 8 July 2025, 2:23 p.m. Suggest removal
ExposedU2C says...
But she's not the least bit shocked by the fact that successive corrupt and incompetent governments bear great responsibility for the despair and lack of hope that permeates our society and inflicts so much grievous mental harm on the most vulnerable among us. Our public schools may as well be regarded as pathetic psyche wards with no psychiatric treatment. Much like our public hospitals and clinics with no adequate medical care.
Posted 8 July 2025, 4:51 p.m. Suggest removal
SP says...
**"20 percent of teens have attempted suicide, and nearly 25 percent have contemplated it".** This is only what they know about and actually translates to more than 50% of our youth being suicidal. This also explains the record high adult suicide rate.
Everybody trying to tip toe around the elephant in the room. **Decades of Failed leadership!**
Where are all of the usual smart alec, one line comebacks, from the sweet mouth politicians? Every one of them past and present should stay under the rocks they've quickly crawled under and stay there forever.
**"IT'S THE ECONOMY, STUPID"**
Politicians are now forced to stop playing dumb and ignoring the impact and multilayered economic and social damages tens of thousands of foreign blue collar workers disenfranchising Bahamians of jobs are having on our people.
Children are a mirror of suffering, unemployed, and underemployed, parents! It would be an interesting exercise to quantify suicidal tendencies between Haitians vs. Bahamians.
We didn't get to this point overnight. This is a serious, unquestionable, indictment against the countries 5 decades of leadership.
No amount of slick political jargon and ducking can save them this time.
Posted 8 July 2025, 7:43 p.m. Suggest removal
sheeprunner12 says...
The school cannot replace the home.
Madam Director don't be shocked. Most of our public school kids come from dysfunctional homes. Just goes to show how much work that the school does to get them to be "normal" for 6 hours M-F.
Posted 8 July 2025, 8:44 p.m. Suggest removal
ExposedU2C says...
And the school system has produced those very same irresponsible and unprincipled parents (and grandparents in some cases) that you choose to blame. Our educational system has been dysfunctional from the moment SLOP realised that dumbed-down voters would be the path of least resistance for him to stay in power as PM.....and so he did for a quarter of a century.
Posted 9 July 2025, 7:21 p.m. Suggest removal
bogart says...
"NO student turned away because of background"
https://www.tribune242.com/news/2018/au… article.
Posted 9 July 2025, 9:40 a.m. Suggest removal
bogart says...
https://www.tribune242.com/news/2018/au…
Posted 9 July 2025, 9:48 a.m. Suggest removal
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