Let teachers do what they are hired for

The plan to utilise them as mental health counsellors for students may not work

India has 150 million people suffering from mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety, personality disorders, schizophrenia, and learning disabilities, says a report by NIMHANS. But, with only 3,800 psychiatrists, 898 clinical psychologists, and 1,500 psychiatric nurses, the country, is fighting a battle with one hand tied behind its back. One of the key factors to ensure that more people are not added to this already large pool is the early detection of mental illness and professional help. Towards this, the Centre now plans to train more than 10 lakh school teachers to identify stress, emotional issues, substance abuse and bullying in school children. Two teachers each in all government and government-aided schools will be trained to hold a one-hour-long class once a week. In case of symptoms of any serious condition, the child will be referred to a specialist.

While any step to tackle mental health issues must be applauded, the health ministry should have looked beyond India’s already stretched teaching cadre. Most State-run school teachers fail to even discharge their basic duties, which is not always their fault. The State always wants them to multi-task: from polio campaigns to election and census duties, in violation of Right to Education norms. According to a study conducted by the Azim Premji Foundation in Madhya Pradesh, often when teachers were not present in the classroom, it was for official reasons. Reasons for absence include academic duties, administrative duties such as data collection, submission of data related to the mid-day meal programme and work related to student-incentive programmes such as distribution of textbooks, and other departmental work related to elections, census surveys, etc.

While multi-tasking is the mantra of this era, it will be wrong to overburden teachers. Instead, why not have a separate set of people, with similar kind of training imparted to teachers, to do this critical job?