NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court-appointed National Task Force (NTF) on student mental health and suicide prevention in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) will analyse nationwide survey data, running into millions, to draft a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for mental health services in the country.
The NTF, which was granted an extension till June 30 by the apex court in its January 15 judgment, will also create a model SOP for periodic well-being audits in HEIs, a member, who did not want to be named, told this paper.
The NTF, which was constituted in March 2025 to address rising student suicides in HEIs and to recommend systemic reforms, will also create a model SOP for faculty sensitisation and training.
The aim is to create safe, equitable, inclusive, and conducive spaces for learning on higher education campuses. The NTF mandate is to come out with a unified national framework for suicide prevention and student welfare.
“In its January 15 judgment, the Supreme Court has tasked the NTF with some additional tasks of creating model SOPs for mental health services, suicide prevention, faculty sensitisation, audits, etc., and the task force will also be working on that,” the member said.
“The online surveys (seeking suggestions) have closed now. We have received all the responses we needed, and now the data analysis will proceed. As you can understand, it's an extensive data set with millions of responses,” the member added.
After being set up, the NTF conducted a nationwide survey last year.
To hear the voices of diverse stakeholders, the NTF launched five nationwide online surveys in August 2025, targeting students, faculty members, parents, mental health service providers and the general public.
All Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) were also mandated to submit institutional data through a separate survey.
The surveys closed in December 2025. In the survey, 12.88 lakh students participated. Apart from students, 1.6 lakh faculty members, 2.26 lakh parents, 6,800 mental health professionals, 2,25,460 general public (through open feedback), and 16,750 HEIs (out of the over 60,000 nationwide) also participated in the survey.
The member said that responses were received from all states and Union Territories, ensuring national representation.
In November-December 2025, meetings were held with State Nodal Officers to understand local challenges, best practices, and systemic gaps.
The NTF also engaged with regulatory bodies, including the National Medical Commission (NMC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the Indian Nursing Council (INC), and the Dental Council of India (DCI), to address concerns and encourage institutional participation.
Apart from analysing nationwide survey data, the NTF will synthesise insights from field visits and stakeholder consultations, plan engagements with earlier committees that examined similar issues, and carry out further consultations and visits, which are ongoing.
The member also said that, in addition to collecting information from institutional visits and stakeholder consultations, a review of existing policies will also continue.
“The scale and diversity of engagement will form evidence-based recommendations to strengthen student mental health systems and prevent suicides in higher education,” the member added.
The NTF also conducted field visits to 29 HEIs across nine states, enabling deeper engagement with regional and institutional contexts.
Adopting an interdisciplinary and equity-oriented approach, the NTF also conducted 14 stakeholder consultations involving: Marginalised social groups; Medical students and residents; Mental health experts; Administrative and police authorities from various states.
These consultations examined student distress in relation to academic pressure, discrimination, social exclusion, and institutional shortcomings.
The NTF also held discussions with the State Crime Records Bureau and the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to explore improvements in suicide data collection and analysis to understand student suicide data better.
On January 15, the SC announced sweeping measures to address student suicides, and held HEIs accountable for student safety, mental well-being and institutional failure. The order was passed after the NTF, headed by former SC judge Justice S. Ravindra Bhat, submitted its interim report.
The SC also passed directions on suicide data collection, reporting and filing of annual reports on suicides and unnatural deaths of students to the University Grants Commission (UGC) and relevant regulatory authorities.
It also ordered medical services for students, including emergency services; full compliance with all existing UGC regulations; filling of vacant posts in HEIs; timely disbursement of scholarships; access to student-friendly mental health support services; and faculty training to recognise signs of distress and to refer students to mental health services.
It also ordered feedback mechanisms to assess student satisfaction with campus mental health services, and accessibility of campuses and information systems for persons with disabilities, among others.