State plans to appoint psychologists to every school to help students to reduce stress

Maharashtra plans to appoint psychologists in schools to reduce student stress, forming a committee to create a roadmap for mental health support within three months.

MUMBAI: The school education department is planning to appoint psychologists in all schools to help reduce stress among students. To implement this, the state has appointed a committee to study and develop a detailed roadmap with recommendations on stress management for students. The committee has been tasked with suggesting how psychologists can be appointed in every school and how an online counselling module can be created for students with the help of clinical psychologists from district hospitals.

State plans to appoint psychologists to every school to help students to reduce stress

The education department’s order issued on Thursday, asked the newly formed panel to submit its report with recommendation within the next three months. The move follows a Supreme Court verdict issued on July 25, which directed all states to take measures to reduce student stress and submit an Action Taken Report (ATR) in response. Following the directive, Ranjit Singh Deol, principal secretary of the school education department, held a meeting and instructed officials on October 30 to form a committee.

Headed by the director of the Maharashtra State Council of Educational Research and Training (MSCERT), the committee includes the director of health services, the director of the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research (Balbharti), the chairperson of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE), the joint directors of primary, secondary and higher secondary education, the joint director of MSCERT, psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty, and representatives of psychiatrist associations.

As per a government resolution issued by the school education department on Thursday, the initiative’s aim is: “... To appoint psychologists in every school of the state and to create an online counseling module for students with the help of clinical psychologists from district hospitals; to prepare the necessary information/content and training videos for students and parents to free them from stress, and to prepare the roadmap using the support of psychological organizations working in the state.”

The committee has been asked to determine short-term, medium-term and long-term goals to reduce student stress and to develop strategies to ensure guidance reaches every needy student. “With the help of trained teachers and psychologist associations or clinical psychologists, identify students facing psychological stress and provide immediate counseling and guidance; plan online courses or videos for training of teachers,” the GR added.

The committee will suggest the need for helpline numbers in state textbooks, which will be launched by the government. It will also examine ways to encourage government teachers to study psychiatry, including the possibility of granting seniority benefits or advance increments as incentives.