Saskatchewan NDP Leader Ryan Meili announced Monday morning that an NDP government would make investments to ensure children’s mental health is a priority in Saskatchewan.

Meili said the NDP would invest $5-million to hire 50 mental health nurses for schools and an additional $5-million top work with school divisions to reverse cuts and hire additional child psychologists, counselors, speech language pathologists and other mental health supports.

At a news conference in Regina Monday morning, Meili said children are struggling now more than ever with COVID-19 creating a new reality.

“This important investment will immediately help students deal with the new reality they’re facing with COVID-19,” Meili said. “This will also respond to the growing troubles in mental health in our classrooms and play an important role in our long-term mental wellness strategy including our suicide prevention strategy.”

Meili says the current provincial government have cut per-student funding by $300 per student since 2015-2016, and that there are less child mental health assets available today then there were five years ago.