RAIPUR: In a move to place emotional resilience at the heart of education, the Chhattisgarh State Education Department, in collaboration with UNICEF and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), has launched an initiative to strengthen mental health and psychosocial support for children in schools across the state.
Recognising that academic growth cannot flourish without emotional security, the three-day capacity-building programme, organised under Samagra Shiksha with technical support from TISS's School Initiative for Mental Health Advocacy (SIMHA), aims to transform classrooms into safe, empathetic and nurturing environments for young learners.
The workshop brought together educators and lecturers from all seven districts of the Bastar division, along with Dhamtari district. Designed as an immersive, activity-based programme, the sessions equipped participants with practical skills to identify early signs of emotional distress, help students manage academic and personal stress, and recognise individual strengths rather than measure potential solely through test scores.
The initiative addresses a critical challenge facing students today: mounting anxiety over their future careers. Highlighting this trend, Dinesh Koushik, Deputy Director of Samagra Shiksha, emphasised the need to redefine how success is perceived among children.
"Competition among children has increased significantly in recent times. Today, every child aspires to become a doctor or an engineer, which creates considerable pressure regarding their education and career," said Koushik. He added that it was essential to safeguard children's mental well-being so that every child could build a bright future and pursue a career based on their interests and abilities, without unnecessary pressure.
Adolescence is a crucial period of rapid development, during which emotional well-being directly influences academic engagement and self-esteem. For UNICEF, safeguarding children during this phase requires building connections that recognise and respect each child's background and emotional identity.
"Mental health and psychosocial support is a continuum of care connecting the school, family, and community. In Chhattisgarh, a child's mother tongue can be an important bridge to that sense of safety, identity, and belonging," said Seema Kumar, Chief of the UNICEF Chhattisgarh Field Office.
Participants also identified formal referral pathways to ensure that students requiring specialised psychosocial interventions could be promptly connected with professional support networks.
"Improving learning outcomes must go hand in hand with supporting children's mental and emotional well-being," said Ravi Raj Dayal, Education Specialist at UNICEF Chhattisgarh.
The newly trained educators will now serve as district-level master trainers, conducting peer workshops and introducing classroom initiatives across Bastar and Dhamtari. By extending these learnings across the school ecosystem, the initiative aims to bring about a statewide cultural shift, ensuring that schools nurture not just bright minds but also resilient and confident young people.