‘Manodarpan’ platform launched by education ministry to focus on students' mental health

Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on July 21 announced the launch of the ‘Manodarpan’ platform that will provide students psychosocial support for mental health and well-being amid the Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown.

This platform has a slew of advisories for students and teachers to follow during the lockdown including how to make use of the interactive online classes, peer learning, identifying professional support among others.

“Health is not merely the absence of illness or disease. It is a more expansive concept, encompassing mental well-being as well, apart from other dimensions,” Pokhriyal added.

This is part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (self-reliant India) announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 12 to deal with the disruption caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

On May 17, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had first mentioned this 'Manodarpan' initiative to help students.

Manodarpan also has a toll-free helpline number 844-844-0632 that has 100 trained counsellors to help students address their psychosocial issues. In the future, the platform is looking to have 500 such trained professionals.

At a later stage, this platform will have an interactive application that can used for online chat and counselling. There will be webinars, audio-visual resources and podcasts hosted on the platform for the students. Also, this would be used as a part of the school curriculum to address the concerns of children.

Relevant research will also be disseminated through this portal so that there is an awareness building for mental health among students in India.

As per a 2017 ICMR report, about 10-13 percent children and adolescents in India are dealing with mental health concerns.