The morning bell rings, students rush to the classrooms with their all-packed bags and their ironed uniforms, excited to start their first day of school. The air fills with anticipation, routines, and dreams waiting to be achieved. 

As the first lecture unfolds, teachers walk students through the academic calendar, detailing the syllabi, expectations, and stories of those who triumphed by following this path. As if the map to “greatness” is already drawn.

But, what about the unspoken? What if they falter? What if the journey swerves off that carefully laid path? No one tells them that failure is important. They would teach them the way to score 95% but not the way to overcome anxiety, loneliness or distress, that all of these are part of life’s curriculum. 
In glorifying only those who made it, we leave behind the students, unequipped, to carry the heaviest load they'll face — the quiet, invisible burden of mental distress. In India, where suicide remains the leading cause of death among youth, this silence isn’t just neglect. It’s dangerous.

So, what schools should really be teaching about mental health? 

The silence surrounding mental health is deafening. Schools, therefore, must become the first line of intervention, the places where conversations can begin without shame, where vulnerability is not punished but protected.

Studies show that 50% of mental health conditions begin before age 14. If schools become safe spaces where students can learn about emotions, stress management, and coping mechanisms early on, we can prevent long-term psychological distress. This mental health education can demystify all the taboo in Indian society

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If not for schools who would teach these life lessons? 

Words For What We Feel

Schools should begin by helping students build an emotional vocabulary. I remember the time when my classmates and I knew every synonym for “good” or “bad,” but couldn’t articulate what it meant to feel anxious, confused, or disconnected. 

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Emotional literacy is the starting point of any mental health journey. With clarity in emotions comes the ability to seek help, to set boundaries, and to support others. The primary but necessary step to understand oneself. 
"Children are living beings—more living than grown-up people who have built shells of habit around themselves. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary for their mental health and development that they should not have mere schools for their lessons, but a world whose guiding spirit is personal love."— Rabindranath Tagore

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Tagore talks about the “personal love” that should be reflected in teaching approaches that value honesty, softness, and individuality and not to stick just to one's performance. 

From Burnout to Balance

Being in Indian society, I was able to realise how and why our school culture has glorified ‘Burnout’. The constant race for marks, ranks, and college seats. This, unfortunately, forces students to sacrifice sleep, play, and peace. It's time we flipped the script before the students experience burnout even before learning the meaning of it. 

“How?”

Imagine a class with lectures on stress management, realistic goal-setting, and self-discipline! These could do more good than any late-night cram session. Techniques like journaling, mindful breathing, or even 10-minute silences before exams could change the way students relate to pressure.

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Schools must also teach how to process failure and rejection. Right now, success is highlighted on notice boards and huge hoardings near the front gate, while setbacks are brushed under carpets. A few kind words from a teacher or a story of a successful dropout could teach resilience better than any chapter in a textbook. Remember? Just like what ‘Ram Shankar Nikumbh’ was able to do for ‘Ishaan Awasthi’. 

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This shift not only protects students from burnout but also helps them embrace themselves as they are and understand that failure is insignificant compared to the lives that lie ahead of them.

Teaching Beyond Textbooks

Mental health is never just internal. It lives in our friendships, classroom dynamics and interpersonal relationships. Schools must prioritize teaching empathy, emotional safety, and respectful communication. This could be through reflective literature, training to resolve conflicts or simply through a casual ‘storytime’.

The goal is not just to talk about empathy, but to help students live it–in their conversations, their issues, and their classrooms.

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Structural support is a necessity. India has approximately one school counselor for every 2,50,000 students. This is not a gap, it's a void. Schools should have at least one certified, trained mental health professional. They must not sit in corners waiting to be summoned but walk the corridors and become familiar faces for every student.

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We do not need more students who memorize. We need students who understand themselves and each other.  Let us also teach them how to understand themselves besides equations, periodic tables, and historical timelines.

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