Let\u2019s start with the headlines that most likely shuddered parents:<\/p>\n
Pressed pen between fingers: Class 11 student dies, blames teacher in suicide note<\/p>\n
Jaipur girl bullied with ‘bad words’ before suicide, teachers ignored pleas: Probe<\/p>\n
Don’t do drama, won’t make a difference, teacher told Delhi boy before suicide<\/p>\n
Student suicide: Delhi forms probe team, reviews schools’ mental health compliance<\/p>\n
This is no exaggeration, and if you have been actively keeping a track of what\u2019s happening in the country, you will have, by no means, missed these updates, updates that will make you shudder for the future of your school-going kins.<\/p>\n
It goes without saying how students of secondary and senior secondary classes go through immense stress, owing to academic and grade related anxieties. Sometimes, the harassment is inflicted by peers and even teachers (denying help is equivalent to participating in the crime).<\/p>\n
On paper, both CBSE and CISCE mandate full-time counsellors and wellness teachers for secondary and senior secondary levels. In reality? Many of these roles exist only to tick a box. And students are dying in the gaps between policy and practice.<\/p>\n
So, where exactly is the system collapsing? Are schools still not doing enough to protect the mental sanity of their students as well as teachers? Are schools still stuck up in the era where students\u2019 mental health had zero priority? Is it time schools had an independent body to check on students\u2019 mental health due to a lack of accountability?<\/p>\n
Because clearly, the current scenario calls for better actions.<\/p>\n
\u2018Students don\u2019t go to counsellors because they fear being labelled\u2019<\/p>\n
Debika Mitra, a former teacher and now a mentor and co-founder of Escapades for the Soul, working closely with schools across India, says something that immediately explains the silence around distress.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery student tells me the same thing: We don\u2019t want to get labelled. They fear that whatever they share will reach teachers or parents, and they\u2019ll be judged.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, kids don\u2019t trust the system designed to support them.<\/p>\n
According to Mitra, most counsellors, being direct employees of the school, cannot function without pressure or bias. Schools, she says, might want issues downplayed to maintain their reputation. And counsellors often lack real decision-making authority.<\/p>\n
Her second concern is even more shocking. She has observed that in many schools, the psychology teacher is also the counsellor.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverworked teachers who are emotionally exhausted themselves cannot be expected to identify bullying, distress or self-harm in students,\u201d she says. Many teachers don\u2019t have the emotional resilience to manage their own mental health, let alone recognise early red flags in a teenager.<\/p>\n
Even when policies exist, on-ground execution is poor.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost schools treat emotional well-being sessions as a tick-mark activity,\u201d Mitra adds. \u201cTeachers are overburdened with syllabus and see these sessions as a waste of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Counsellors without training: \u2018It\u2019s like having a physician with no MBBS\u2019<\/p>\n
Maitrayee Sen, a PhD scholar and Teaching Fellow at Ashoka University, adds an uncomfortable truth: most school counsellors in India are not clinically qualified to handle adolescent mental health.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving an MA in Psychology doesn\u2019t make someone a counsellor,\u201d she says. \u201cA school counsellor ideally needs an MPhil from an RCI-recognised institute and a license that is renewed every five years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many schools skip these standards because hiring unlicensed staff is cheaper.<\/p>\n
This leads to two dangerous consequences:<\/p>\n
Counsellors lack training to handle serious cases – abuse, trauma, self-harm, suicidal ideation.They are buried under administrative work. Admissions, workshops, documentation, discipline coordination, everything except actual counselling.<\/p>\n
And with no standardised student-to-counsellor ratio, the burden becomes absurd.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn many schools, one counsellor manages thousands of students. It\u2019s impossible to meaningfully support them,\u201d Sen says.<\/p>\n
India urgently needs:<\/p>\n
A national minimum counsellor\u2013student ratio (globally it\u2019s 1:250).Clear credential requirements for hiring counsellors.Mandatory training for teachers to recognise distress and abuse.SOPs for handling disclosures, escalation, and confidentiality.A system to collect data on counselling outcomes.External audits and independent oversight.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout these,\u201d Sen warns, \u201cwe will keep reacting to tragedies instead of preventing them.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘We notice warning signs, but we are already overworked\u2019<\/p>\n
A Noida-based teacher who requested anonymity admitted that most educators simply aren\u2019t trained to recognise early warning signs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorkshops are short, irregular, and often a formality. When incidents happen, schools hold a session or two and then forget about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teachers often confuse trauma with discipline issues. Tantrums get punished; withdrawal gets ignored. She also highlights a gap parents rarely acknowledge: \u201cMany children don\u2019t have anyone at home they can talk to. With nuclear families and hectic work schedules, kids feel invisible. Schools must create safe spaces that they don\u2019t get anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n
But even the teachers who genuinely want to help feel helpless.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re stretched thin. Huge workloads, academic pressure, and no clarity on protocols make us hesitant to get involved. We don\u2019t want to do the wrong thing and we don\u2019t have guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also reveals a systemic flaw: school counsellors often report to principals, not senior psychologists. \u201cThat kills autonomy,\u201d she says. \u201cCounsellors can\u2019t push back against decisions that jeopardise a child\u2019s mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n
The infrastructure gap: \u2018Two counsellors for an entire school is not enough\u2019<\/p>\n
Multiple educators agree on one thing: schools lack the physical and emotional infrastructure for real counselling.<\/p>\n
Many don\u2019t have private counselling rooms. Some schools assign counsellors to teaching periods. Others don\u2019t allocate budgets for mental health programmes.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents should be able to speak freely without fear,\u201d the Noida teacher says. \u201cBut when you share a room with staff or when the counsellor doubles as a teacher, confidentiality dies.\u201d<\/p>\n
She emphasises that schools must set up crisis teams with clear protocols for emergencies, bullying, and self-harm. Without this, teachers and counsellors are left guessing what to do.<\/p>\n
Parent workshops: The missing link no one talks about<\/p>\n
The same teacher raises an important point: families are a major part of the problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany kids grow up alone, in one-child homes, with working parents, no extended support. Schools must run regular, mandatory workshops for parents on digital safety, adolescent mental health, emotional communication and stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Children today know mental health vocabulary – \u201canxiety\u201d, \u201cpressure\u201d, \u201cbullying\u201d – but not coping mechanisms. And parents often dismiss or misunderstand these terms.<\/p>\n
A strong mental health system cannot exist without involving families.<\/p>\n
Can counsellors be unbiased if schools pay their salary?<\/p>\n
Experts differ slightly here.<\/p>\n
Some say yes, but only if:<\/p>\n
Counsellors report to an independent mental health authority,Confidentiality is non-negotiable,Schools cannot override counsellor recommendations, andCounsellors have supervision from senior psychologists.<\/p>\n
But in reality, India doesn\u2019t offer this structure yet.<\/p>\n
As one teacher bluntly puts it: \u201cSchools prioritise reputation. And reputation often wins over a child\u2019s well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Ends<\/p>\n
Published By: <\/p>\n
Tiasa Bhowal <\/p>\n
Published On: <\/p>\n
Nov 22, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s start with the headlines that most likely shuddered parents: Pressed pen between fingers: Class 11 student dies,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[89850,89851,163,85,46,522,523,89852],"class_list":{"0":"post-146891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-class-10-student","9":"tag-delhi-student-suicide","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-mental-health","14":"tag-mentalhealth","15":"tag-student-suicide"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}