Do you agree that Mental Health Education is a must in schools in India

This article is inspired by @mansi dholakia a well known Mental Health Expert and Global Ambassador of Mental Health Association, her opinion on this issue is being shown along side.

On This Teacher's Day Today, I strongly urge all the readers to give this a serious thought and help us improve the mental health awareness in school level. Of late we have been watching more and more reports on children going through tremendous mental stress right from their early childhood as I watch my 4 year old grand daughter attending her online class with her teacher every day sitting on laptop and muting and un-muting her mike and going through the lectures very bravely I find her to be under immense stress on her tender mind. This pandemic has taught us many things for our life time to remember and this is one issue that needs to be addressed very seriously of including the mental health education for children right from the school level curriculum.

The New Education Policy expands age group 6-14 years of mandatory schooling to 3-18 years of schooling. The NEP introduces hitherto uncovered three years of pre-schooling, age group of 3-6 years under the school curriculum. The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of Anganwadi/ pre-schooling for younger children.

Health and education are strongly interconnected. While healthy individuals are more likely to have better education outcomes, right education can improve the health status of a household. The recently released National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) proposes to bring a paradigm shift in Indian education. In doing so, it recognises the need for proper nourishment and good health to aid optimal learning, and proposes certain health-related interventions. The following are the key approaches and interventions on health proposed in the NEP. Holistic education with sports-integration Multi-disciplinarity and holistic education are part of the key principles of the NEP. Along with subjects like the sciences and social sciences, the curriculum must contain courses that make education well-rounded, useful and fulfilling, including games, sports and fitness.

At the school level, the NEP proposes sports-integration, or utilising physical activities in pedagogical practices, to increase the students’ cognitive abilities, while promoting their physical and psychological well-being. Sports-integrated learning will help students achieve fitness levels envisaged in the Fit India movement, and adopt fitness as a lifelong attitude. It will also develop their skills like collaboration, self-initiative, teamwork and responsibility.

The NEP also proposes other ways to increase school students’ exposure to sports and other activities. It offers increased flexibility and choice of subjects, allowing students to choose physical education as part of the curriculum. The Policy also proposes ‘bagless’ days to allow students to engage in local vocational and other activities, such as sports and gardening. The NEP further encourages formation of clubs, including for sports, yoga, and health and well-being, at the levels of schools, school complexes, districts and beyond.

Noting the importance of health education in schools, the NEP includes health and nutrition, physical education, fitness, wellness, sports, sanitation and hygiene as some of the key subjects, skills and capacities that must be learned by everyone. Accordingly, the NEP proposes the inclusion of training in health, including preventive health, mental health, good nutrition, personal and public hygiene, disaster response and first-aid, and detrimental effects of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, as part of the school curriculum.

While enrolment in higher education has increased steadily over the past decade, reaching a Gross Enrolment Ratio of 24% in 2013, there still remains a significant distance to catch up with tertiary education enrolment levels of developed nations, a challenge that will be necessary to overcome in order to continue to reap a demographic dividend from India's comparatively young population.

(Further reading :https://poshan.outlookindia.com/story/poshan-news-new-education-policy-and-students-health/358686)

The NEP also proposes other ways to increase school students’ exposure to sports and other activities. It offers increased flexibility and choice of subjects, allowing students to choose physical education as part of the curriculum. The Policy also proposes ‘bagless’ days to allow students to engage in local vocational and other activities, such as sports and gardening. The NEP further encourages formation of clubs, including for sports, yoga, and health and well-being, at the levels of schools, school complexes, districts and beyond.

Mental health issues often begin during the school-age years. It follows, therefore, that education about mental health should to also start at an early age. Because children spend so much of their daily life at school, mental health education logically should begin in schools. Now that we in the Covid-19 pandemic the students are going through lot of stress mentally attending the virtual school and are definitely missing their normal school life which is so much essential for overall mental and physical development.

The Cente for Disease Control and Prevention reports that one in five children in the U.S. currently have, or at some stage have had, a debilitating mental illness. Fifty percent of mental illness begins by the age of 14, according to the American Psychiatric Association. We are not well aware of such studies in India but the picture may not be totally different here now. Mental illness, particularly depression, is predicted to become one of the major health burdens in the future. The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Over 300 million people of all ages suffer from depression.

(Further reading: https://thedoctorweighsin.com/mental-health-education-schools/#:~:text=misconceptions%20still%20exist.-,Mental%20health%20issues%20often%20begin%20during%20the%20school%2Dage%20years,logically%20should%20begin%20in%20schools.)

As childhood and adolescent mental health disorders are so common, it’s baffling that we are not equipping our children with an understanding of mental health. The breaking down of stigma and misconceptions about mental illness has to start in schools. School is where friendships begin. It is where teens hone their sense of self-worth. It’s also the place where children need to learn that their behaviour towards others can cause serious self-worth issues. Many students experience conflicts, bullying and social exclusion at school. Sex education is another aspect in schools which is not yet being fully explored in Indian school curriculum.

Many children feel anxious, ranging from mild symptoms to more severe forms, such as panic attacks. When these symptoms are ignored, they can lead to depression, lack of performance and increased risk of substance abuse. Current research indicates a possible connection between increased social media use and mental health although it’s still unclear exactly how they are connected. What is clear is that young adults are the most active users even in India now and this is the cause of concern that adolescent suicides took place some time back while playing some games online which is a very serious matter of mental education.

The upside of social media is of course that teens are hardwired to socialise, and social media makes it easy and immediate. Teens in marginalised groups may find it easier to make friends and find support.The downside of social media is that those using social media may be faced with many negatives such as toxic comparisons, cyber-bullying and less face-to-face interactions. Someone’s reputation can be destroyed in minutes and face the consequences for years. Let us therefore make this movement stronger to show more care to our school going children and make them aware how to fight depression and how to be mentally strong and cope with the pressures of academics as well as extra curricular activities. Stay blessed! #kishoreshintre