Mr Ampah said suicide remained one of the three leading causes of death among adolescents globally, a worrying trend that reflected realities in Ghanaian schools.

Mr Ampah was speaking at a three-day workshop in Accra, organised by Hope for Future Generations (HFFG) in collaboration with the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) and the Ghana Education Service under the Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) project that seeks to ensure HIV prevention, stigma reduction, and youth empowerment.

The three-year initiative is targeting adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24, both in and out of school, across seven districts including parts of Greater Accra, Kumasi, and the Eastern Region.

Mr Ampah noted that good mental health enabled young people to learn effectively, work productively, and contribute to their communities as well as making informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health while ensuring the prevention of HIV infection.

“When adolescents experience poor mental health, it becomes difficult for them to cope with daily life, school pressures, and social challenges,” he said.
He emphasised that the adolescent stage is a critical phase of transition that shapes lifelong wellbeing, yet issues such as family conflict, stigmatization, sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy, chronic illness, and academic stress often triggered emotional distress, anxiety, and depression among students.

“Healthy development during adolescence contributes to strong mental health and prevents future mental disorders and untreated mental health conditions often persist into adulthood,” he said.

Mr. Ampah said the GES, through the School Health Education Programme, (SHEP) continued to train teachers to identify signs of distress among students, such as sudden withdrawal, mood changes, substance use, or suicidal thoughts and to refer them for psychosocial support.

The GES SHEP Coordinator also called for stronger collaboration between schools, families, and community health systems to help manage mental illness, as schools alone were unable to do it.

He called for the provision of safe, inclusive, and friendly environments that promoted psychosocial well-being such as planting of trees, creating shaded resting areas, and making classrooms welcoming, saying, “Clean and secure school environments give peace of mind to learners.”

Mr. Ampah urged teachers and parents to treat adolescents as resources to be nurtured, not problems to be fixed.

“We must listen compassionately, offer hope, and avoid hastily involving parents if they are the source of a child’s distress. The goal is to help, not to stigmatize,” he advised.
He further underscored the need to build adolescents’ psychosocial skills, including self-awareness, stress management, empathy, and non-violent conflict resolution, to help them make responsible life choices and resist risky behaviours such as substance abuse or unsafe sex.

“Developing these skills promotes self-esteem, resilience, and positive peer relationships. It also helps prevent violence and sexual abuse,” he added.

Mr. Ampah reaffirmed the GES’s commitment to promoting abstinence, sexual purity, and responsible behaviour through age-appropriate, culturally sensitive education embedded in the national curriculum.
He also called on stakeholders in health, education, and social protection to integrate adolescent mental health into broader public health strategies to ensure a generation of emotionally strong, confident, and healthy young people.