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Dharmendra Pradhan reviews measures for mental wellness of students in educational institutions
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday chaired a high-level meeting to review the steps being taken by educational institutions to ensure mental health wellness of students and zero tolerance towards discrimination
New Delhi: Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday chaired a high-level meeting to review the steps being taken by educational institutions to ensure mental health wellness of students and zero tolerance towards discrimination, people familiar with the development said.
Pradhan also directed the ministry to prepare a framework to further safeguard the mental and emotional well-being of students, officials said.
The meeting came in the backdrop of the death of an 18-year-old Dalit student, who allegedly died by suicide at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, with his family claiming that he faced caste-based discrimination at the institute. The institute has denied the allegation.
During the meeting, Pradhan asked officials to put in place an effective grievance redressal system with shared responsibility. “The minister has also asked to invite suggestions from all the stakeholders through an online medium,” a senior ministry official said, requesting anonymity.
The meeting — which was attended by senior officials from the education ministry, CBSE, AICTE, and University Grants Commission — witnessed discussions on various subjects such as gender equality, caste sensitivity, academic ease of pressure, and robust system of counselling, among others. “The minister has asked officials to ensure the physical, psychological, and emotional well-being of the students,” the education ministry said in a statement.
According to data submitted by the ministry last week, 61 students had died by suicide at the country’s premier technical institutions, including IITs, National Institutes of Technology (NITs), and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), between 2018 and 2023.
Pradhan also directed the ministry to prepare a comprehensive framework of operational guidelines, covering holistically from school to higher education institutions, in order to further safeguard the mental and emotional well-being of the students.
“The framework will institutionalise safeguards and mechanisms that can ensure comprehensive protection to students from any threat or assault — physical, social, discriminatory, cultural, and linguistic; causing psychological distress leading to self-harming/self-destructive tendencies among students,” the ministry said.
The framework will emphasise on creating an inclusive, integrative and non-discriminatory environment at educational institutions.
“It will focus on sensitisation and capacity building programmes for faculty members; orientation, counseling and hand holding mechanisms; early detection mechanisms for immediate intervention; promoting close-knit student faculty interactive communities, incorporating team activities within the curricular exercises, effective and speedy grievance redress mechanism, physical fitness provisions and programmes, emphasis on nutrition, personal involvement and monitoring by the heads of the institutions, faculty and parents, etc,” the ministry said.
