By The Hindu Bureau

Copyright thehindu

Deputy Commissioner of Mandya Kumar has called upon the educational institutions to establish confidential counselling rooms to protect the mental health of students.

Presiding over a district-level meeting to monitor and protect the mental health of students in Mandya in the light of reports of adolescents committing suicide and ending their lives over trivial issues, Dr. Kumar suggested that every school in the district should not only set up a counselling room, but also ensure that at least one teacher undergoes special training from mental health experts on stress management to provide counselling to the students.

The teachers undergoing such training should identify students with weak mental health condition and conduct special counselling sessions for them once a week. He expressed confidence that suicides by children can be prevented if the schools and colleges seriously monitor vulnerable students.

Emphasising the importance of protecting the mental health of students in schools, Dr. Kumar said Child Monitoring Committees must be formed at the taluk level. “Special care should be provided to children attempting suicide,” he said, while maintaining that no task was greater than saving a life.

Whenever teenagers fall into some sort of mental stress, the Deputy Commissioner said the trained teachers should step in, identify vulnerable students, give them proper awareness, and help them in changing their mindset.

Dr. Kumar pointed out that students face instability not only in schools and colleges, but also in student hostels. “Some children face instability and become disturbed,” he said. Under such circumstances, the hostel wardens should take care of the affected children and if necessary arrange proper treatment and counselling at local primary health centres.

Gather data

He called upon the officials to gather data on the children who had lost their lives by committing suicides during the last two years due to mental health issues.

He said the records of children, who attempted suicide or showed weak mental conditions, should also be maintained and confidencial counselling should be conducted with their parents also.

Dr. Kumar felt that educational institutions should increase the extra curricular activities for the students. “This will help reduce their mental stress,” he said.

With regard to the Child Monitoring Committee, Dr. Kumar said the committee meeting should be convened every month and the measures taken by the authorities to preserve the mental health and stability should be reviewed during the meetings.

Deputy Director of Department of School and Public Education Lokesh, Deputy Director of Department of School and Public Education K. Mohan, Deputy Director of Social Welfare Department Srinivas, and Deputy Director of Backward Classes Welfare Manjula were present on the occasion.