In 2012, the South African government initiated the Integrated School Health Policy (ISHP) to serve as a national guideline on providing school health and support services from key stakeholders such as the Department of Health (DoH), Department of Basic Education (DBE) and Department of Social Development (DSD).
Despite this, teachers in under-resourced government schools are not sufficiently equipped to address their learners’ psychosocial challenges. This was postulated by Jayce Pillay, Leila Patel and Rubina Setlhare-Kajee in this 2023 article, which appeared in the South African Journal of Childhood Education. The study assessed which psychosocial interventions 50 school teachers from five under-resourced primary schools in Gauteng were aware of.
The article indicates that support for learners varied at each school and was largely based on whether teachers had been trained regarding school safety protocols. Schools that follow the ISPH regulations and equip their teachers with training in protocols are better equipped to observe and attempt to remedy psychosocial challenges faced by learners.
The article recommends that teachers be better educated on learner mental health risk factors.