#SELmovement for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention

This generation of students seek more than just the curriculum, they seek innovation, they seek education that prepares them for the world. We as educators, are so often rushing to complete the curriculum, but in this long run, we aren’t looking at what our students need for their own overall growth and flourishing in the current context of the world. Social and emotional development of a student is as important as all other subjects.

This year the pandemic has challenged students from across the globe that we hadn’t prepared them for. Many of them have had to face a lot of realities. It is on us to give our students tools that prepare them for those challenges of the real world. This pandemic has taught us that. If we focus on our students’ social, emotional and psychological heath, we wouldn’t be seeing such a sharp rise in suicide cases and mental health issues.

According to the World Health Organisation, 800,000 people die due to suicide every year, which is one person every 40 seconds. We need to advocate for safe spaces for our students that promote these tools, skills and give them solutions. They should have access to share and have dialogues about the social and emotional challenges the youth are faced with today.

Supritha M,

Senior Secondary Teacher,

CMR National Public School,

India.