The National Taiwan University’s (NTU) Student Counseling Committee has passed a proposal for mental health leave that allows students to take leave when they are feeling mentally unwell, for up to three days per semester, the NTU Student Association said yesterday.
The committee approved the proposal in June, allowing students to log on to the online leave management system and file for mental health leave when they find it difficult to go to class that day, the student association said on Facebook.
Students would not need to provide proof of illness, it added.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Students can file up to three days of mental health leave per semester, and can apply for leave on the day that they would be attending class, the association said, adding that when a student files for mental health leave a second time, the system would notify the university’s Center for Student Well-Being and the Student Counseling Center, initiating care services for the student.
The approval of the mental health leave proposal indicates that the university administration is paying attention to students’ mental health issues in a positive light and is willing to combat the stigma surrounding mental health problems, the association said, adding that everyone should have the right to hit pause and give their body and mind a break.
There are about 10 universities that offer mental health leave, including National Taiwan Normal University, National Chengchi University, Taipei Medical University, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), National Sun Yat-sen University, Chang Jung Christian University and National Taipei University, and students can apply for up to three or five days of mental health leave per semester.
However, some students are concerned that they might be stigmatized for taking mental health leave, or that they would first need to obtain approval from a lecturer.
Several academics and experts at a cross-generational campus forum in Taipei on May 7 said that mental health leave should protect students’ privacy, be destigmatized and allow students to file for it without asking for a doctor’s note.
NCKU Student Association head Huang Kang-chi (黃康齊) said at the time that mental health leave must take into account whether it can be kept private, whether a teacher’s approval is necessary and whether the application procedure is user-friendly.
He said that when students take mental health leave at NCKU, they only need to file for it on the university’s online leave management system, and while the university’ Student Assistance Division is notified for future reference, it would keep the filing private so a student’s classmates do not find out if they took the mental health leave or simply skipped class.
Child Welfare League Foundation CEO Pai Li-fang (白麗芳) said it is easier for university students to take leave from class than senior or junior-high school students, as the latter need to fill out a leave request form which is usually collected by a class officer, potentially making it difficult to obtain mental health leave.
Moreover, junior or senior-high school students have the pressure of getting accepted into a good senior-high school or university. They have full-day courses, so if they need to talk with a teacher at the school’s counseling office, they have to take leave from class, she said.
Pai said that many students are most concerned about interpersonal relationships, so sometimes, even if they want to visit the counseling office, they could be worried about being made fun of or bullied if other classmates find out.
Therefore, if junior or senior-high schools wish to initiate the mental leave mechanism, they need to consider how to protect student privacy, Pai said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) cited the Ministry of Education statistics which said that reported suicide attempt cases among students from elementary school to university level increased eight times from 2016 to 2020, and deaths from suicide increased 1.65 times, so mental health issues on campus should not be neglected.
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
RSS