Supreme Court issues pan-India guidelines to prevent student suicides, mandates mental health policy

NEW DELHI: Outlining the rise in suicides and mental health issues among students in educational institutions, the Supreme Court on Friday issued pan-India guidelines to combat the problem. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said there remained a "legislative and regulatory vacuum" in the country with respect to a unified, enforceable framework for suicide prevention of students in educational institutions, coaching centres, and student-centric environments.

While issuing 15 guidelines, the bench said the measures should remain in force and binding, until such time as appropriate legislation or regulatory frameworks were enacted by the competent authority. All educational institutions were directed to adopt and implement a uniform mental health policy, drawing cues from the "Ummeed" draft guidelines, the "Manodarpan" initiative, and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.

"This policy shall be reviewed and updated annually and made publicly accessible on institutional websites and notice boards of the institutes," the bench said. The top court highlighted Centre's preventive steps to mitigate the situation, with "Ummeed" (understand, motivate, manage, empathise, empower, and develop) draft guidelines -- meant to prevent school student suicides -- released by the Ministry of Education in 2023.

Govt launches mental health initiatives

For a broader reach, the court said, the Ministry of Education launched "Manodarpan", mental health and well-being of students during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The verdict came on an appeal against an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, rejecting the plea to transfer the investigation over the unnatural death of a 17-year-old National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test aspirant, preparing in Vishakhapatnam, to the CBI.

Passing a slew of guidelines, the bench said all educational institutions with 100 or more enrolled students should either appoint or engage at least one qualified counsellor, psychologist, or social worker with demonstrable training in child and adolescent mental health.

"Institutions with fewer students shall establish formal referral linkages with external mental health professionals," the verdict said.

The bench continued, "All residential-based institutions shall install tamper-proof ceiling fans or equivalent safety devices, and shall restrict access to rooftops, balconies, and other high-risk areas, in order to deter impulsive acts of self-harm."

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No segregation based on academic performance

All educational institutions, particularly coaching institutes or centres, were asked to refrain from segregating students' batches on the basis of academic performance, public shaming, or assignment of academic targets disproportionate to their capacities.

"All educational institutions shall establish robust, confidential, and accessible mechanisms for the reporting, redressal, and prevention of incidents involving sexual assault, harassment, ragging, and bullying on the basis of caste, class, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or ethnicity," the order said.

The bench stressed on the need for zero tolerance when it came to retaliatory actions against complainants or whistle-blowers. In all such cases, immediate referral to trained mental health professionals must be ensured, and the student's safety, physical and psychological, should be prioritised, it said.

"Failure to take timely or adequate action in such cases, especially where such neglect contributes to a student's self-harm or suicide, shall be treated as institutional culpability, making the administration liable to regulatory and legal consequences," the bench added.

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Guidelines for coaching centres

All coaching hubs, including Jaipur, Kota, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai, were directed to implement heightened mental health protection and preventive measures. The guidelines would apply to all educational institutions, including public and private schools, colleges, universities, training centres, coaching institutes, residential academies and hostels, irrespective of their affiliation.

The top court in a separate case took cognisance of suicides in educational institutions and directed the constitution of a National Task Force on mental health concerns of students and prevention of suicides in higher educational institutions. "We may clarify that these guidelines are not in supersession but in parallel to the ongoing work of the National Task Force on mental health concerns of students and are being issued to provide an interim protective architecture in the interregnum," the bench clarified.

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CBI to probe Andhra NEET-related death

All states and union territories, as far as practicable, were directed to notify rules within two months mandating registration, student protection norms, and grievance redressal mechanisms for all private coaching centres.

The bench directed the Centre to file a compliance affidavit before it within 90 days detailing the steps taken to implement these guidelines and the monitoring systems put in place. It posted the matter for October 27 for receiving the compliance report.

Dealing with the unnatural death case, the bench directed that the investigation shall be transferred to the CBI. The CBI director was ordered to ensure immediate registration of case and the investigation being assigned to a team under the supervision of jurisdictional CBI superintendent.