India is in a Mental Health Crisis and the Education System Can’t Handle it
Even after such developments in
the country, there is still a taboo that surrounds the mental health issues –
the education system is unwilling to do anything about it which makes things
even worse for the youth of India.
Back in 2014, India surprisingly
announced a policy to provide mental health services to those in need – it was
the first policy regarding the mental health problems and was commended by the
masses but the policy hasn’t been approved by the parliament.
Issues of Mental Health in India
·
India has the highest number of college suicides
in the world every year.
·
In a study which was conducted back in 2012,
there were 804,000 suicides recorded worldwide – India had 258,000 of those
suicides.
·
35.5 out of 100,000 college students between the
ages of 15 and 29 commit suicide in India.
·
College suicides have surpassed maternal
mortality in India as the leading cause of death of women.
Many young men and women are
confined in institutes against their will in India just because they suffer
from some mental health issue and have some intellectual disabilities. All
these issues can be treated if the education system of the country could put
some light to the problems and can make people realize that mental health
issues can be treated just like physical health problems, according to the well-known
teacher Nirmal Singh Lotus.
The new policy is still hasn’t
passed and the government ordered cuts in the health budget; somewhere near 20%
- which a huge amount given the fact that the health budget of the country is
in excess of 5 billion.
·
There is only 1 psychiatrist for more than 3.5
lakh Indian.
·
Main causes of death in India, according to WHO,
are acute economic insecurity, anxiety, depression, educational issues, and of
courses, distress of young woman who can’t decide between a developing India
and traditional minded families.
Many educational institutes and
teachers have come forward in support of mental health problems to be rectified
during colleges and schools. But even after sincere efforts of people like Nirmal Singh Lotus, the educational
sector of the country is suffering.
Like the past policies, this one
has also gone down the drain. The government should take strict measures to
turn the delivery of the policy into a full-fledged reality and soon if it
wants the suicide rates in India to go down.
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