With India having largest number of adolescents worldwide, 23.3% students are suffering from mental disorder suggest reports. Students in their adolescence are most vulnerable to mental health disorders but the ratio in India seems higher. Lack of early identification of symptoms, treatment gap and professional help contribute to the problem.
As per reports from All India survey 2018-2019, India has about 37.4 million youth studying in higher education institutes. Students allegedly spend 8-9 hours of their day in school, and it would not be wrong to say that school is their second home.
Schools are showing their concern toward the mental health problems that students are going through but not much support for the same is being provided.
Why do schools need mental health support system?
Well, children face problems now and then; some are big and some are small but they are often neglected when they reach for support saying they are just children. These neglected problems keep on growing and are often gone out of hand when discovered.
With the higher number of students comes higher ratio mental problems but what is there to support the children who are the future of India?
Programs like SMPH were introduced globally to help children in stress tolerance and resilience but School Mental Health Program is badly neglected in India. No SMHP is there to cover students all over the nation till date.
At school level some implementations can be done. Introducing a section solely meant for psychological support can surely bring a difference. Hiring professionals in psychiatry who can be available to listen and provide solution to children.
Educating students for mental problems at early age and letting them know that it is not a crime to have mental disorder will help them in opening up. Also, conducting various workshops regarding the awareness of mental health problems will help students to detect the same at early stage and seek for help.
Mental health is a serious issue not for adults but for children as well. Providing help to them at early age can overcome many challenges which can come later in their life. The need of an hour is that all educational institutions musty set up infrastructure to provide mental health support to their students.