‘Students mental health our priority’

GOVERNMENT is concerned with the rise in suicide cases reported in tertiary institutions in recent days, a Cabinet minister has said.

In an interview recently, Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira said his ministry is “worried about the development”.

“This is a ministry of students and whatever affects students is our concern,” he said.

“Yes, there have been reports and we are working on trying to lessen cases of that nature.”

Prof Murwira said they were aiming to improve the well-being of students in different colleges across the country and will look at the improvement of counselling systems at institutions.

“We are looking into urgently improving psychological support services at our institutions,” he said.

“At the University of Zimbabwe, Great Zimbabwe University and other institutions there are health clinics where students can get medical help.

“We also want to investigate the cause of these mental health issues which are leading to unfortunate occurrences. Once we understand what is leading to these cases, we can then offer a long term solution.”

There has been an increase of reported cases in the country’s universities, with the latest one being a National University of Science and Technology (NUST) student.