Delhi Schools To Introduce Mandatory Mental Health Checks After Student Suicide. What It Means For Your Child

After the recent student suicide case in Delhi's St. Columba, the Education Minister, Ashish Sood, has ordered a comprehensive review of the mental-health practices being followed across all schools in the national

capital. Delhi government has also begun to write to schools to check whether CBSE's prescribed mental-health standards are being properly implemented. Sood has also mentioned that there will be full government support extended to any school that requires help in strengthening its mental-health framework. He says, "It is our responsibility to ensure that the next generation remains mentally healthy and does not fall into distress,"

For schools and those studying there, along with the parents, the rules have been laid out and already put into action. A committee has been constituted to investigate whether the institutions are following the prescribed mental-health guidelines. The panel is also expected to submit the evaluation report within three days. Along with this, Delhi's schools are set to undergo a line of extensive upgrades in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Sood has also announced that campuses that are across the MCD and Delhi Government will be modernised using CSR funds and there will be a number of improvements that will follow. These would include planned classroom design, update furniture and the much-needed introduction of AI-based teaching tools.

He also added that under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the leadership of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, the government aims to upgrade Delhi’s public schools to a level where “future generations will seek recommendations for admission". In addition to this he has also urged the teachers at all of these schools that they should take on a stronger role in driving transformation within classrooms as they are the ones who interact the most with the students. He said that the responsibility for improving education is shared by the government, community and all the partner organisations.