A total of 65% of counsellors and allied professionals believe that students in Delhi/NCR and Mumbai schools are not aware of common mental illnesses, and search engines and social media are the preferred source of information for students about mental health.
This was found during a survey conducted by Fortis Healthcare’s Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences among 200 school counsellors, special educators and occupational therapists across 130 schools in Delhi/NCR and Mumbai.
The survey consisted of 17 questions to analyse the attitude and opinion of the community of mental health professionals working in schools.
What the survey found
The lead of the survey Dr. Samir Parikh, director, Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, at the hospital said: “Ninety-one per cent of the participants believed that mental health is not given adequate importance in schools while 96% admitted that they recognised the need to incorporate a mental health curriculum within schools. Around 29% counsellors and allied professionals believed that when in distress, students prefer to keep their concerns to themselves rather than talking about them. Also 88% participants believed that students do not know how to respond when their friends talk about psychological or emotional concerns.”
Advocating for introducing a mental health curriculum in the schools, Dr. Parikh said that this should not be viewed as an additional educational curriculum, but a platform to create a sensitised, educated as well as empowered generation encouraging positive mental health.
“In the coming academic year, our team of experts shall be open to training teachers across the schools in the country to be able to incorporate such a mental health curriculum within the classrooms, with the aim of creating a sensitised, educated and empowered generation along with promoting positive mental health for the future generations to come,” he added.
