Response to interpellation 2025/26:100 on the Swedish school system's ability to prevent suicide among students
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
1 L argues that the government should strengthen student health through a national strategy, investigations, a student health guarantee, and increased funding for staff 1. 2 L emphasizes the importance of mobile-free schools, clear rules of play, and that the government prioritizes suicide prevention 2. 3 L argues that they are implementing a historic reform agenda to rectify the consequences of S's inclusion 3. 4 L wants to re-regulate the school for equality and safety 4. 5 S argues that the school lacks resources and knowledge regarding NPF diagnoses 5. 6 S argues that the school has failed to provide all children with a safe upbringing and that hbtqi-hostility reduces safety 6. 7 S argues that the system lacks expertise and resources 7. 8 S argues that the school must invest in knowledge about risk factors for hbtqi youth's mental health 8. 9 S wants profits to education companies to stay in the school 9.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Mr. Speaker! Gustaf Lantz has asked me what I and the government intend to do so that Swedish schools will become better at preventing mental ill-health and suicide among students.
The government decided in 2024 on a national strategy for mental health and suicide prevention. To seriously and powerfully undertake the work of promoting mental health and developing the work of preventing mental ill-health and suicide requires a broad and comprehensive effort at different levels in society. This is an important issue, and it is crucial that adults see and act on signals from students who are suffering. All children have the right to the best possible health, which includes mental health.
The school and student health services have an important role in promoting students' health and supporting students' development towards the goals of education. Important tasks are, for example, to counteract bullying as well as to identify support needs and offer support measures.
We know that today's school health is insufficient and that more and more students are not getting access to effective support measures in a timely manner. The Government is therefore implementing several measures in the area. On March 7, 2024, the Government appointed the Inquiry on Improved School Health (U 2024:01), which will submit its final report to me on November 27. The assignment includes, among other things, strengthening the school health's mandate, management, and cooperation. In addition, the inquiry shall propose how the school health's medical, psychological, and psychosocial interventions can be strengthened and propose a school health guarantee with the goal of achieving a purposeful deadline for receiving support and help from school health.
In the budget bill for 2026 (prop. 2025/26:1), the government also proposes 200 million kronor for staffing reinforcements within school health services. The initiative can contribute to students receiving improved access to the medical and psychological expertise of school health services and to more being offered health-promoting and preventive interventions.
School social teams are a way for the school and social services to contribute to safety and study environment in school, to increased school attendance, and to students receiving support at an early stage. We also know that a successful schooling is a decisive protective factor against both exclusion, crime, substance abuse, and ill health. To strengthen the cooperation between the school and social services and increase attendance among students, the government proposes that the existing state grant for personnel costs for the school social teams be reinforced by 100 million kronor to a total of 400 million kronor in 2026 and be extended to 2028.
The Government wants to carry out further measures to permanently strengthen safety and study environment in Swedish schools. In January 2025, the Government received a report on better conditions for safety and study environment in schools (SOU 2025:8). A large number of proposals were submitted there with the aim that all students should be able to attend a safe school where they can concentrate on the teaching and that both school staff and students should be spared threats, violence, violations, and harassment.
Work is also underway to enable suicide investigations within the framework of a national investigative function. This initiative shall specifically focus on suicide among children and young people and is expected to contribute to a more effective suicide prevention work.
We have a shared responsibility to ensure that every child is seen, receives the right support, and is given the opportunity to feel well and succeed in school.
Gustaf Lantz (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer!
It is thanks to mother Desirée that this debate is taking place. Her daughter Karolina took her own life when she was only twelve years old. It is not often that I get nervous, but I did the first time I met Desirée. I was afraid of hurting and saying the wrong thing, of stepping in and tearing things up. It is easier when one can say "I understand how it is." But I understand that I do not understand how it is to lose a child.
What I know is how the love for my children feels, but not what it would be like to not be able to give it in life. Ulf Lundell's words give a hint: "As if my soul has left me to be with you, so I miss you." There is probably only one thing that is harder to understand than this, and that is how poorly a child feels who has decided not to live.
We must talk about what it is about and not sweep it under the rug, said Desirée when I insisted on talking about suicide. So we gave our parliamentary seminar the title Children and Suicide – because that is what it is about. It became both a difficult and important day with researchers, relatives, teachers, psychologists, and members of parliament. The starting point was Elinor Torp's book about Karolina, which is called The Girl in the Corridor. She sat there in the corridor, alone, enclosed. She was unhappy in school, and she did not receive the right support – an experience that many students in today's school share.
There is something very wrong in Swedish schools when so many students do not find their place. Many teachers do a fantastic job but see for themselves that the resources are not there to give students what they need. There is too little knowledge about autism and other NPF diagnoses within the school. The help is too small and too poor. We can do so much better.
It felt as if our seminar ignited a spark of hope among the participants. Politicians from all sides listened curiously and intently. Minister for Health and Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed gave a very good speech, and the feeling in the room was that this could become a starting point towards something better.
But then I look up DN the day after our seminar and read how the Minister for Education thinks we should listen less to students and that we should punish students. I felt ashamed in front of the parents whose children have taken their lives whom I met on October 22, those who have fought as tiger moms and tiger dads so that their children would have it well in school and who now gathered their strength again and went to the Riksdag to fight for others' children.
Mr. Speaker! Many of those who have taken their lives have had autism, have not been able to learn in the current school environment, have been frustrated or bullied, have caused trouble, fought, and been scolded. They have not received the right support, they have not been met with knowledge, they have not entered into a community – they have suffered as if in a hell. They are many and are becoming more. During the last year, 16 children under the age of 14 took their lives.
Riksförbundet Attentions school report shows that 83 percent of students with NPF diagnoses experience physical and mental ill health linked to school. School absenteeism has quadrupled since 2019. Should we really listen less to these children? Should we really punish these children?
Daniel Vencu Velasquez Castro (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you for the opportunity to debate this important issue! Suicide is, in reality, a testament to the fact that we have failed to provide all children with a safe upbringing. Every child who takes their own life is an enormous tragedy, especially for the affected family.
Mr. Speaker! Yesterday we could take part in Dagens Nyheter's reporting that hbtqi-hostility is increasing in schools. Sveriges lärare says that four out of ten teachers have experienced hbtqi-hostility among students in upper secondary school. It concerns students who storm out of the classroom when they find out that the teacher is homosexual and parents who say that they will not let their children go to school because RFSL is to have a school information session, which is claimed to be pure and utter hbtqi-propaganda.
This leads to a decrease in safety for young hbtqi people. It leads to RFSL canceling school information. Over half of RFSL's branches have decided to no longer conduct school information due to safety risks. Those who still have school information often hear that they are pedophiles who groom children. For students who see this and live with it in their school, it is probably obvious to never come out. And sometimes it can result in suicide. This is clearly a completely unacceptable development that must not happen in Sweden.
The well-being of young LGBTQI people is relevant to the issue we are discussing today. A few years ago, the Public Health Agency conducted an overview which showed that young LGBTQI people are overrepresented in the suicide statistics in Sweden. In this overview, it is also stated that the main reason this occurs is cyberbullying and bullying.
This is not a new problem. The Social Democratic government launched the national strategy "It's about life" to prevent suicide among young people and increase investments for good mental health. Several agencies, including the Public Health Agency, were designated as strategic to work with this. But more could have been done, and more needs to be done.
I think that the work against honor-related violence, which often arises when we talk about the mental health of young LGBTQI people, is important. We agree on that, and we have enacted several laws stating that we are against honor-related violence. But in DN's reporting, Mr. Speaker, we could also take note of the liberal municipal council in Gothenburg, who expressed that LGBTQI-hostility only occurs in schools in disadvantaged areas and not in inner-city schools. This is something that is refuted by RFSL's school informants. This is a result of an ultra-conservative movement, which I believe both I and the Minister have seen on social media, where trans people in particular are being ridiculed.
I think the government's initiatives to prevent suicide among young people are welcome. I believe that the unequal school system and, above all, the religious free schools need to cease here and now – it is perhaps the most important measure to tackle this. But I still welcome the efforts being made.
Mr. Speaker! I want to ask the Minister what the government is doing about the extensive hate spread on social media by the far-right, such as the Sverigedemokraterna, against LGBTQI people and what measures she intends to take to ensure that no young LGBTQI person is met with threats and hate that result in suicide.
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Mr. Speaker! Many questions arose in the debate here. Let me begin with what I think is most important that we keep our eyes open regarding.
For a long time, we have had a safety crisis in Swedish schools. It has not been a reality that parents feel security when they leave their children at school and that children do not need to come to school with anxiety or with a stomach ache. That has been the case for various reasons, Mr. Speaker. That we have had a safety crisis for a long time, I believe, is linked not least to the fact that we have not been clear about what the purpose of the school is.
Teachers should be allowed to be teachers in their classrooms. We cannot have rowdy corridors. One is not in school to bicker with the teacher or with one's classmates, but one is there to learn the democratic craft and the fundamentals, which shall help one for the rest of one's life.
I believe it is crucial that we handle the safety crisis by strengthening teachers in their role as teachers in the classrooms and by giving principals the opportunity and tools to maintain safety in the school.
It is also about the new phenomena we see in schools, including screens and social media that shape children and young people before they have a chance to shape themselves. Therefore, I am glad that we in this government are now ensuring that the entire primary school is mobile-free. One hands in their phone at the beginning of the school day and gets it back at the end. During the time in between, one is in school to learn and to socialize with their friends.
We have a decisive role in school when it comes to ensuring that all children and young people are allowed to be themselves and are allowed to dream big. But it is also about ensuring that they know what rules of the game exist in school. There should be no doubt. It cannot be upside down. Anarchy does not prevail in school; instead, in school, there are clear democratic missions and democratic values that are upheld. I shall be very clear on that. It is zero tolerance for failing to uphold this. Schools and municipalities have a responsibility to ensure that all schools follow this.
I intended to answer the member on what the government is doing to counter mental ill-health, among other things, among students with NPF. The government's ambition in the area of mental ill-health has been clear, which is evident not least from the Tidö Agreement and the government statement. The government emphasizes that the work to strengthen mental health and suicide prevention must be prioritized as a part of the public health work, not least for young people. The preventive and promotional work must be strengthened. The number of suicides shall decrease. And the care and support for persons with mental ill-health must become much more accessible and equitable.
The fact that students with disabilities are suffering so much and are attempting to take their own lives is a serious failure. I and the government are taking concrete measures to improve exactly the support and prevent ill health by ensuring that all children and young people receive the support they deserve and need. No child should be left behind in our classrooms.
Gustaf Lantz (S)
Mr. Speaker! The Minister for Education holds a very important position in Swedish society. School is the foundation for much.
The government has three very important matters on its table. The first concerns how much money the school receives. The second concerns how much of the school's money also stays in the school. The third concerns how the money is used.
When it comes to how much money the school receives, I can note that the Social Democrats' shadow budget contains 3.7 billion more for Swedish school. We can calculate for the entire parliamentary term regarding support to municipalities. Our party has prioritized welfare and not those with the highest incomes and large tax cuts.
When it comes to how much money also remains in the school, we are very clear as a party. We want the money that the taxpayers work together for and that we decide should go to the school to also remain in the school – this is so that students can be given the right support, not least students with autism and other NPF diagnoses who need special support.
How the money is used in school also depends on what the system looks like. Those who have these diagnoses – who run an incredibly much higher risk of taking their lives, of feeling unwell, and of not wanting to go to school – are not profitable for the independent schools. They simply do not want them. They do what they can to avoid these economically unprofitable students. They can then remain in the municipal school, which does not have sufficient means to be able to invest in this.
It is a system failure, and it has been going on for far too long.
I have an example from Uppsala of how this system works. It was a resource school, a private school, where many with an autism diagnosis attended. They received the notice: In six weeks, we are closing your school.
Those who know anything about how autistic students function know that they need a long time to transition and that they have a great need to plan and to prepare themselves for changes.
It was not that the school was doing poorly. It was not doing well enough. It did not provide enough profit. Four students in Uppsala were not profitable enough. The school company was to be sold, and the figures were to be fixed before the sale.
I want to know what the Minister for Education intends to do about this system, which every day hits hard against many students. The ultimate consequence is actually that students take their own lives because they do not receive the right support. There is not the right expertise. There are not the right resources.
Another question is: In light of the clear ties to the independent school market that exist, not least within the Moderaterna, what ability does the Minister for Education have to get the entire government on board?
Daniel Vencu Velasquez Castro (S)
Mr. Speaker! A mission that the school has and that one has received from this chamber is the democracy mission. Fundamentally, it is about democratic room for maneuver, and that is exactly why we need to invest in ensuring that the school and teachers have knowledge about risk factors surrounding the mental ill-health of hbtqi youth. We must also include the hbtqi perspective in the broad public health work. More needs to be done, because for very many years we have had an overrepresentation among young hbtqi persons when it comes to suicide.
Mr. Speaker! I return to this issue of hate, because it is the case that bullying, cyberbullying, and harassment are the single greatest reason why young LGBTQI people commit suicide. We can conduct investigations and formulate analyses, but both I and the Minister know where the hate comes from. We know which members in this chamber spread hate against LGBTQI people. We know who in Swedish politics harasses and ridicules trans people, something that notably occurred during the debate on a new gender identity law. We also know which political forces it is that poison the public conversation against LGBTQI people.
It is the Sweden Democrats and their far-right friends who are doing this to young LGBTQI people. This is not happening in a vacuum; young LGBTQI people are experiencing this. They see it and draw the only obvious conclusion: Society is not safe for me, and I will not come out.
I want to take a stand against this. I want the school to receive sufficient resources. We must also, Mr. Speaker, be aware that politics is incredibly normalizing, and I unfortunately believe that the government's normalization of the Sweden Democrats has contributed to increased mental ill-health among young hbtqi people.
Mr. Speaker! We see homophobia spreading in Swedish schools, and I want to know what the government intends to do to counteract this.
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Mr. Speaker! When we took over the Ministry of Education, we did so after eight lost years with the Social Democrats. Right now, we are implementing the largest reform agenda in over 30 years regarding the school system. In our budget bill, we have just presented a historic school budget, while at the same time we succeed in lowering taxes for completely ordinary people who every day get up and work and toil for Sweden.
Let me take some of perhaps the most important parts of this large reform agenda. The inclusion that the Social Democrats pushed for, where everyone is to be in one and the same classroom and which means that children who need help do not get the help they actually need because it is more important that everyone is included, has led to the exclusion that we see today. Children have ended up at the back of the classroom, perhaps with noise-canceling headphones and an iPad, instead of receiving the right support at the right time so that they learn the basics that are crucial for them to manage for the rest of their lives.
That is why we are reforming the support system so that children who are falling behind, for example with reading, shall be able to do so in smaller groups or individually so that they catch up. No child shall be left behind.
We want to ensure that there are more special education teachers working directly with students, also something that the Social Democrats removed during the time they ruled the school.
We are making many efforts to ensure that children are not left behind, that children do not end up at the back of the classroom without receiving the right help, because we know what it means when children do not receive the right help. Then they are left behind, without the opportunity to dream of becoming what they want, without being able to participate in society on the same terms as others.
In addition to this, we are introducing a new grading system. We ensure that teachers receive expanded opportunities and less administration. To answer the member's question, we also ensure that teacher education is raised, not least to strengthen teachers' understanding and mandate when it comes to democracy so that they, based on science, get the opportunity to teach children exactly this.
Before the parliamentary term ends, we will also submit a government bill to the Riksdag regarding the independent school system. For the first time in 30 years, we will ensure that a change occurs in the independent school system, something the Social Democrats failed to achieve during their eight years in the Ministry of Education.
The list can be long of things we do today, after the Social Democrats' eight lost years in the Ministry of Education. I understand that it is frustrating, and I wish it had gone faster. But I can tell you one thing: Never before have so many and so large reforms been made in the field of education, and all of this with one purpose: No child shall be left behind. No classrooms shall be taken over by insecurity and fear. We do not negotiate with the basic democratic rights but ensure that all children have the same opportunities – every day.
Gustaf Lantz (S)
Mr. Speaker! I note that the Minister for Education chooses the easy path of blaming the Social Democrats, but now it has almost been an entire parliamentary term.
That students would not be able to receive individual instruction or be taken out of the classroom if the right support were available is simply not true. An inclusive school means that those with special circumstances should be able to receive the help they need, be able to be in the class when they can, and have individual support when they need it. But for this, resources are required, and for that, a government is required that prioritizes putting the school and the students first, not those with the highest incomes.
It sometimes feels as if the Liberals start with the communicative. One finds something that rhymes: folder – screen, form yourself – behave – care. I wish there were more liberals who sat and had coffee for a long time both with teachers and with parents who have lost their children to suicide and conducted an unconstrained discussion about what they need. I have done that, and I have received many good inputs.
Overhaul the school system fundamentally so that we have resources to invest in all students! Ensure that the 18.9 billion that have disappeared between 2022 and 2024 into profits for the nine large education companies stay in the school! Do the homework, redo it and do it right! Take this seriously! Put the students first!
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Mr. Speaker! As I mentioned, historical school investments have been made, and there is a reform agenda regarding the school that we have not seen before.
I want to start by saying that the inclusion that the member is talking about would have worked well if everyone just received the right support. But it hasn't worked; that is why we find ourselves where we are, that is, in a situation where children who should receive the right support at the right time are instead pushed into classrooms without receiving it. That is why we are reforming the school support system.
I work every day to re-regulate Swedish school. I do so for a very central reason, namely that we cannot have what we have today. There is both a safety crisis and a fear crisis in Swedish school.
If I may make a point to the member: If one truly wants to make major changes and ensure that school initiatives decided here do not stall when they reach the municipalities, one is very welcome to join forces with the Liberals to nationalize the school. There is probably nothing more important than ensuring that municipalities cannot see it as an opportunity to back out of their own initiatives in schools when this chamber decides on major school initiatives. Re-regulating the school and ensuring that equality is created is probably the most decisive thing we can do.
As I began by saying, the question of the ill health of children and young people is something that the entire society needs to take action on. It is a public health effort, and it begins with children and young people. In a time where children and young people are shaped by others before they have a chance to shape themselves, it is more crucial than ever to ensure that school becomes an arena where there is safety and study.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.