Why Mental Health Awareness in Schools Matters— and What Indian Schools Are Still Getting Wrong
By Dr. Prerna Kohli | Clinical Psychologist, Gurugram | Updated June 2026
The conversation about mental health awareness in schools has, in recent years, become almost universal in its rhetoric. Every school now says mental health matters. Far fewer schools have made the structural changes that would make that statement true in practice— trained staff, manageable counsellor caseloads, curriculum that builds emotional vocabulary, and crucially, an honest examination of whether the school's own academic culture is contributing to the problem it claims to be addressing.
This article looks at what genuine mental health awareness in schools requires— across early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence— and addresses directly the dimension that most discussions of this topic in India avoid: the role of academic pressure itself.
Schools are where children spend most of their waking hours, and where the earliest signs of mental health difficulty are most visible— in a child's behaviour, friendships, academic performance, and engagement. A school that is genuinely attentive to mental health can identify and respond to problems years before they would otherwise come to a family's attention. A school that is not attentive can inadvertently become the primary source of the distress itself, particularly through academic pressure. The stakes are not abstract— they are the difference between early intervention and a crisis that could have been prevented.Dr. Prerna Kohli, PhD— Clinical Psychologist, in practice since 1993
Mental Health Across the School Years: What Each Stage Needs
Mental health awareness is not a single intervention applied uniformly across all ages— it looks different at each developmental stage, and schools that genuinely support student wellbeing tailor their approach accordingly.
At this stage, the priority is emotional vocabulary and basic self-regulation— helping children identify and name feelings (happy, sad, angry, scared), and modelling simple coping strategies like taking a breath when overwhelmed. Social skills— sharing, taking turns, expressing empathy— are also foundational mental health skills, not separate from it. Schools that integrate this into daily routine, rather than treating it as a separate "lesson," produce children with a head start on emotional literacy that lasts a lifetime.
Children at this stage can understand that mental health is as real and important as physical health— and that conditions like anxiety, depression, and ADHD are real, common, and treatable, not character flaws. This is also the stage where academic pressure typically begins to intensify in Indian schools, making it critical to teach healthy coping strategies for stress alongside academic content— not as competing priorities, but as complementary skills.
Adolescents need explicit information about common mental health conditions, their signs and symptoms, and— critically— the message that seeking help is a sign of strength, not weakness. This is also the stage of peak academic pressure in India, where board exams and entrance test preparation can dominate a student's entire identity and self-worth. Schools that support adolescent mental health actively work to broaden, not narrow, students' sense of what defines their value.
The Elephant in the Classroom: Academic Pressure as a Mental Health Issue
Any honest discussion of student mental health in India must address academic pressure directly— not as a separate topic, but as one of the most significant mental health risk factors Indian students face.
India's education culture, particularly in urban and competitive environments, has constructed a system in which a narrow band of academic outcomes— board exam scores, entrance test ranks, admission to a small number of prestigious institutions— has become disproportionately tied to a student's sense of their own worth, their family's social standing, and their future. For many students, particularly during board exam years, this produces a level of chronic stress that meets clinical thresholds for anxiety— sleep disruption, loss of appetite, persistent worry, and in severe cases, depression and suicidal ideation.
The tragedy here is not that Indian students lack resilience. It is that the demands placed on them— by schools, by families, by a broader culture that has constructed self-worth around exam performance— often exceed what resilience alone can reasonably be expected to address. A school that genuinely takes mental health seriously must be willing to examine its own role in generating the pressure it is simultaneously trying to help students cope with.
"She was fifteen, in Class 10, and had been referred by her school counsellor after a teacher noticed she had stopped participating in class— a stark change from a student previously described as 'bright and engaged.' Her parents were bewildered: she was still getting good grades, still attending every coaching class, still doing everything that was asked of her."
"When we spoke, what emerged was a student who had not slept properly in months, who experienced physical nausea every morning before school, and who described her own mind as 'just a machine for getting marks now.' She said: 'I used to like learning things. Now I just feel like I'm being tested all the time, even when there's no test.' She had told no one— not because she was hiding distress, but because she genuinely believed this was simply what being a good student felt like."
"The intervention was not about her grades, which remained strong throughout. It was about helping her— and, separately, her parents and school— recognise that 'coping' should not mean a fifteen-year-old experiencing chronic nausea as a normal part of academic life. That recognition, on its own, was the beginning of real change."
I see students who are performing exceptionally well academically and who are, by any clinical measure, in significant distress— and neither their schools nor their families have noticed, because the only metric being tracked is the grade. Good grades and good mental health are not the same thing, and a school that only monitors the former has a dangerous blind spot. The students who concern me most are often not the ones who are struggling visibly. They are the ones who are succeeding at enormous, invisible cost.Dr. Prerna Kohli, PhD— Clinical Psychologist, in practice since 1993
Warning Signs Parents and Teachers Should Not Dismiss
Many of the warning signs of mental health difficulty in children and adolescents are easy to miss— or to attribute to "just a phase," typical teenage moodiness, or laziness. The signs below, particularly when they persist or appear in combination, deserve attention rather than dismissal.
Warning Signs That Deserve Attention
- Sudden drop in academic performance
- Withdrawal from friends or activities once enjoyed
- Significant changes in sleep or appetite
- Increased irritability or emotional outbursts
- Physical complaints with no medical cause
- Reluctance or refusal to attend school
- Expressions of hopelessness or worthlessness
- Any mention of self-harm, however casual
- Significant changes in online behaviour
- Loss of interest in previously valued goals
- Excessive perfectionism or fear of failure
- Persistent fatigue despite adequate sleep
What Genuine Mental Health Awareness in Schools Actually Requires
A poster campaign, an annual assembly, or a single workshop does not constitute mental health awareness— these are visible, low-cost gestures that can coexist comfortably with a school culture that is, structurally, contributing to student distress. Genuine mental health support requires structural commitments.
Not a counsellor in name only, managing an impossible caseload, but professionals with genuine training, adequate time, and a confidential, non-punitive relationship with students. The internationally recommended ratio of one counsellor per 250 students is rarely met in Indian schools— and the gap matters.
Teachers spend more daily time with students than almost any other adult. Training teachers to recognise warning signs— and, critically, to respond supportively rather than punitively— multiplies a school's capacity for early identification enormously.
Emotional vocabulary, coping strategies, and help-seeking norms should be woven into the ordinary fabric of school life— not confined to a single annual session that students forget by the following week.
This is the component most schools avoid. Genuine mental health awareness requires a school to ask hard questions about its own homework load, exam frequency, ranking culture, and the messages— explicit and implicit— it sends about what defines a student's worth.
When a student needs professional support beyond what the school can provide, there must be a clear, confidential, and non-stigmatising pathway to access it— for the student and for their family.
Schools cannot address student mental health in isolation from families— and families often look to schools for guidance they are not equipped to provide themselves. Genuine partnership means open communication in both directions, not just schools reporting problems to parents.
The Parent's Role: What Happens at Home Matters Too
How Parents Can Support What Schools Are (or Aren't) Doing
Conversations about feelings, not just grades. Children absorb their sense of what is normal and acceptable to feel primarily from the adults around them. If the only consistent conversation at home is about academic performance, children learn that this is the only thing that matters about them— and learn to hide everything else.
Modelling, not just instructing. Parents who openly model healthy coping— acknowledging their own stress, taking breaks, seeking support when needed— teach children far more effectively than any verbal instruction about mental health.
Watching for changes, not just outcomes. A child who is performing well academically but has become withdrawn, irritable, or physically unwell deserves the same attention as a child whose grades have dropped. Performance is not the only— or even the most reliable— indicator of wellbeing.
Not amplifying the pressure. Many Indian families, often with the best intentions, add to the academic pressure a child already experiences at school— through comparison with peers or siblings, through conditional approval tied to results, or through anxiety that is communicated even when not verbalised. Examining this honestly, as a family, is one of the most powerful things parents can do.
Seeking professional support without waiting for crisis. The cultural stigma around psychological support for children remains significant in India— but early intervention is dramatically more effective than crisis intervention. A consultation with a child psychologist is not an admission that something is seriously wrong. It is a proactive investment in a child's wellbeing, no different in principle from a regular health check-up.
It takes a village to raise a child— but the village needs to agree on what it is raising the child toward. If schools, families, and the broader culture are all, in different ways, communicating that a child's worth is contingent on academic performance, then mental health awareness campaigns are working against the tide of everything else the child is hearing. Real change happens when schools and families align— not just in saying that mental health matters, but in how they actually define success for the children in their care.Dr. Prerna Kohli, PhD— Clinical Psychologist, in practice since 1993
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is mental health awareness important in schools?
As Dr. Prerna Kohli explains: "Schools are where children spend most of their waking hours, and where the earliest signs of mental health difficulty are most visible— in a child's behaviour, friendships, academic performance, and engagement. A school that is genuinely attentive to mental health can identify and respond to problems years before they would otherwise come to a family's attention. A school that is not attentive can inadvertently become the primary source of the distress itself, particularly through academic pressure."
What are the warning signs that a child may be struggling with mental health?
Warning signs include a noticeable drop in academic performance without obvious cause, withdrawal from friends and activities previously enjoyed, changes in sleep or appetite, increased irritability or emotional outbursts, physical complaints with no medical cause (especially around school days), expressions of hopelessness or worthlessness, self-harm or talk of self-harm, and significant changes in online behaviour. Any one sign in isolation may have many explanations, but persistence or combination of several signs warrants attention.
How does academic pressure in India affect student mental health?
India's academic culture— centred on board exams, competitive entrance tests, and a narrow definition of success— creates chronic stress for students that is among the highest globally. This pressure begins as early as primary school in many urban families and intensifies dramatically during board exam years. Consequences include chronic anxiety, sleep disruption, loss of intrinsic interest in learning, and in severe cases, depression and suicidal ideation. The tragedy is not that Indian students lack resilience— it is that the demands placed on them often exceed what resilience alone can address.
What should schools actually do to support student mental health?
Dr. Prerna Kohli identifies several concrete components: trained, accessible school counsellors with manageable caseloads; teacher training to recognise warning signs and respond supportively; curriculum integration that normalises emotional vocabulary and help-seeking from an early age; school policies that actively examine and moderate academic pressure rather than treating it as inevitable; and clear, confidential referral pathways to professional support. A poster campaign or a single annual assembly does not constitute mental health awareness— sustained structural support does.
How can parents support their child's mental health alongside the school?
Parents play an essential complementary role: having regular, low-pressure conversations about feelings rather than only grades; modelling healthy emotional expression and coping; being alert to changes in mood, behaviour, or engagement; avoiding amplifying academic pressure at home; and seeking professional support promptly when warning signs appear, rather than waiting for a crisis. Children absorb their understanding of what is normal and acceptable to feel primarily from the adults around them— both at school and at home.
The Village Needs to Agree on What It Is Raising Children Toward
Mental health awareness in schools is not a separate initiative that sits alongside academics. It is inseparable from how a school defines success, structures its expectations, and communicates— explicitly and implicitly— what matters about the children in its care.
Schools that get this right do not produce students who are immune to stress or difficulty. They produce students who have the language, the support, and the permission to seek help when they need it— and who do not have to wait until they are in crisis to be heard.
Concerned About a Child or Teen's Mental Health?
Whether you are a parent noticing changes in your child, or a school looking to strengthen your mental health support structures, I offer confidential consultation from my practice in Gurugram, with online sessions available across India and internationally.
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About the author — Dr. Prerna Kohli
Dr. Prerna Kohli is a clinical psychologist with over 30 years of practice, based in Gurugram. She holds a PhD from Aligarh Muslim University, where she was a four-time gold medalist, and received the “100 Women Achievers of India” award from the President of India in 2016. A TEDx speaker and published author, she works with individuals, couples, and families through her private practice — in-clinic in Gurugram and online worldwide — with a particular speciality in NRI mental health.