Per the Indian Journal of Psychiatry nearly 50 million children suffer from mental disorder at any given point of time. AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) has planned to reach out to 2,000 school children in Delhi to make them competitive, maintain positive lifestyle and prevent mental illness of any type in future. It has also signed an MoU with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for a unique school-wellness programme on mental health called MATE (Mind Activation Through Education). This pilot project will focus on students from grade 6 to as the children of this age group are adolescents and also dealing with a lot of hormonal changes in the body. According to the experts a lot of factors can contribute to a child becoming mentally ill like social media, gaming, peer pressure, parental surveillance, traumatic experiences in early childhood, negative life events, educational setbacks etc. AIIMS would be reaching out students of both private and government schools and senitise them on topics like relationship with oneself, sex, coping with difficulties, self respect, substance abuse and how to maintain mind and body balance. The programme will be in tune with the biological syllabus of the class in audiovisual form. There would also be a workshop for students and parents to create awareness towards mental health and the outcome will be analysed at the end of one year.
Source: Hindustan Times
