Indian Express 09.02.2010
Civic body allocates funds to counsel school students, teachers
Tags : BMC schools, mumbai
Posted: Tuesday , Feb 09, 2010 at 2326 hrs Mumbai:
To help civic school students cope with examination related stress, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has raised its education budget to have professional counselors and volunteers from NGOs and educational institutes to counsel its teachers and students.The education budget of the BMC saw an additional grant of Rs 300 crore to conduct the workshops in civic schools to boost the confidence of teachers and students.
“Students are under stress because of parental pressure which results in depression. Fortunately, there were no suicides among BMC schools students this year. To avoid any such tendencies, we will conduct psychiatric workshops and seminars for teachers who will in turn pass it on to the students,” said additional municipal commissioner (education) A K Singh. The seminars will be organised and conducted by Dr Sanjay Oak, dean of KEM Hospital.
As a part of its ‘Life Is Beautiful’ project, the civic administration has already begun counseling its teachers on how to deal with students and avoid unnecessary pressure.
Besides professional counselors, BMC has approached students of psychology from Mumbai University, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, SNDT etc. to counsel their students and teachers. “They will come once a week and talk to students of all classes. Almost all private schools have a counselor. Our students too should benefit from such facilities,” Singh said.
The civic body will also carry out a mental health check up of all the 4.5 lakh students studying in its schools. Annually, students of civic-run schools undergo physical health check up twice a year including one under ‘Sarvashiksha Abhiyan’.
