- Titled “Shaping the Future: Building a Protective Ecosystem for Student Mental Wellbeing,” the event featured distinguished speakers – Dr Henal Shah, BP Mandoli, Shubhi Mehta, and Sanjay Desai
- Children are victims of their environments, and school is the only organised channel that can shoulder the responsibility of nurturing their emotional resilience in a structured manner: Sanjay Desai, Founder and CEO of ConsciousLeap
NE EDUCATION BUREAU
SURAT, FEB 22
The Swarnirbhar Shala Sanchalak Mandal (SSSM) and Surat Unaided School Association (SUSA), in collaboration with ConsciousLeap, hosted a pivotal symposium on Saturday, emphasising the urgent need for inducting protective mental wellbeing programs in educational settings.
Titled “Shaping the Future: Building a Protective Ecosystem for Student Mental Wellbeing,” the event featured distinguished speakers, including Dr. Henal Shah, B P Mandoli, Shubhi Mehta, and Sanjay Desai, addressing the escalating mental health challenges faced by students.
Dr. Henal Shah, Head of the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Unit at Nair Hospital in Mumbai, sounded alarms over the increasing mental health issues in youth. She cautioned, “The consequences of ignoring the mental wellness of our children can be far-reaching. However, through an inclusive approach involving educators, parents, and mental health professionals, we can pivot from merely reacting to mental health crises to preventing them.”
B P Mandoli, Staff Officer and State Nodal Officer, Samagra Shiksha, Uttarakhand, spoke about the profound impact of the Wellspire program on students, illustrating how it is making a significant difference in their lives.
Sanjay Desai, Founder and CEO of ConsciousLeap, highlighted the insidious role environmental factors play in the mental wellbeing of children and emphasised the responsibility that is devolving on schools to take up measures that help students in counteracting these influences. “It’s a societal misconception that mental health is a private family issue. The reality is that children are victims of their environments, and school is the only organised channel that can shoulder the responsibility of nurturing their emotional resilience in a structured manner,” explained Desai.
Executive coach, TEDx speaker, and actor Shubhi Mehta, known for her role in ‘Chak De India,’ drew attention to the practical aspects of building resilience. She emphasised the need for experiential learning as a means to coach and foster mental toughness in children.
The symposium also featured a dynamic panel discussion, examining how schools can implement preventive mental wellbeing measures, moderated by eminent educationist Dr Deepak Rajyaguru. Discussions focused on building a holistic student aptitude, adopting introspective methodologies, and leveraging bite-sized experiential learning to manage the cognitive and emotional load on both students and teachers.
Nikhil Madrasi, Honorary Secretary, South Chamber of Commerce, graced the occasion. The evening saw an august gathering of academic leaders and educationists.
The event concluded with a clear consensus on the necessity of an integrated and holistic strategy to address the mental wellbeing needs of students. The collaborative dialogue set the stage for the development of actionable plans that would empower schools to become sanctuaries of mental growth and resilience.
This significant symposium marks a step forward in the essential discourse on student mental wellbeing, an issue that continues to gain importance in the context of modern educational challenges.
