New Delhi: The second meeting of the National Task Force on Mental Health Concerns of Students and Prevention of Suicides in Higher Educational Institutions was convened today under the chairmanship of Hon'ble Justice S. Ravindra Bhat, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India.
The Task Force was and is being established as a result of a historic Supreme Court Judgment delivered on March 24, 2025, bringing together a wide range of stakeholders and experts from across many disciplines, including academia, mental health, policymakers, and advocates. The Supreme Court directed the establishment of this Task Force to recommend immediate, wide-ranging actions to deal with the mental health issues facing students and prevent educational institutions from ignoring their mental wellbeing.
High-Level Participation and Actionable Items
Today's meeting evidenced participation from high-ranking officials, including Dr. Vineet Joshi, Secretary, Department of Higher Education; Amit Yadav, Secretary, Department of Social Justice & Empowerment; and Anil Malik, Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, and senior officials from the Ministries of Law & Justice and Health & Family Welfare.
A detailed overview was given of the activities carried out since the first meeting on March 29. The agenda discussed a whole host of strategic measures, including a centralized data portal, regulation and reporting, stakeholder outreach, and inter-ministerial coordination. Discussions also addressed the need to integrate support from DoSEL and MoHFW.
The Triple Working Group Strategy
To sharpen the focus of its activities, the Task Force created three working groups. They will work towards:
1. Analyzing Past Reports and Existing Frameworks: Gathering conclusions from previous initiatives and examining existing policies and laws relevant for student welfare and mental health.
2. Data and Questionnaire Design: Developing the methodologies and instruments for gathering data from different stakeholder categories, including students, teachers, administrators, and mental health professionals.
3. Implementation and Outreach: Designing the mechanisms and methods for dissemination, feedback collection, and public engagement in the mental health initiative.
Broad-Based Composition of Experts
The Task Force has eminent members such as Dr. Alok Sarin (psychiatrist), Prof. Mary E. John (gender studies), Arman Ali (disability rights advocate), Prof. Rajendar Kachroo (founder, Aman Satya Kachroo Trust), Dr. Aqsa Shaikh (community medicine), and Dr. Seema Mehrotra (clinical psychology, NIMHANS). Including social scientists, public policy and legal experts, the Task Force has a truly interdisciplinary reach.
Underlying Reasons and Institutional Silence
The Supreme Court-appointed Task Force identified the prominent indicators of risk for student suicide-academic strain, social and economic strain, discrimination, and a lack of access to mental health support.
The vision, therefore, is to analyze the working of existing welfare schemes and suggest reforms that will strengthen an ecosystem that supports students.
The discussions highlighted the need for identifying high-risk areas to enable early intervention and institutional resilience through faculty sensitization and easily available mental health infrastructure. Periodic audits of educational institutions' mental health policies were also noted by the Task Force.
The Way Forward: Moving From Discussion to Execution
With today’s meeting, the Task Force has moved from planning into execution. The next stage will focus on collecting data at scale in a series of consultations with stakeholders and drafting formal guidelines for higher education institutions all across India.
The intervention marks a paradigm shift in student welfare in India, with mental health and well-being now at the heart of educational planning.
The Task Force’s work complements the student-centred and inclusive principles of the National Education Policy (NEP) and aims to create a campus environment that is safe, responsive and caring for all.
Justice Bhat underscored the importance of being urgent and consistent: "Our students’ mental health can no longer function as a footnote in education; it must be a national priority."
