Beijing has listed "psychological health of teachers and students" a required course for local primary and high school teachers, a local education official said Thursday.

The course should enable them to effectively handle psychological problems experienced either by their students or themselves.

The official with the Beijing Municipal Education Committee said local primary and high school teachers will be trained in the basic theories and knowledge of psychology, causes and symptoms of psychological problems and methods on how to ease psychological pressure on students.

The move also aims to improve psychological health of teachers themselves, according to the official.

According to a survey of 2,292 teachers from 168 primary and high schools in 14 cities in northeast China's Liaoning Province, conducted by the State Task Team for Mental Health Education of Primary and High School Students, 51.23 percent of those surveyed were diagnosed with psychological problems. Of these 32.18 percentwith "low-grade psychological obstruction," 16.56 percent with "psychological obstruction of moderately depth," and 2.49 percent with "mental illness."

According to a survey f more than 500 primary and high school teachers in Beijing, close to 60 percent of those surveyed feel more "upset" than "joyful" about teaching and 70 percent of the respondents said that they often get irritable, restless and "heavy-hearted."

Currently, all primary and high schools in Beijing have at least one part-time or full-time counselor However, teachers with a bachelor's degree of psychology or above only take up less than 10 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2005)