Lok Sabha Question No. 1273 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-28
Subject: Dedicated Mental Health Counselling Centers
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Rahul Kaswan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1273 ANSWERED ON 28.07.2025

## Dedicated Mental Health Counselling Centers

## 1273. Shri Rahul Kaswan:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a)  the  total  number  of  Institutes  of  National  Importance  having  dedicated  mental  health  or counselling centers with full-time professional counsellors or clinical psychologists;

(b) the total number of such institutes that have implemented a mental-health screening module such as questionnaires or peer-assessment programmes during student induction or periodically;

(c) the total number of institutes having 24×7 helpline or tele-counselling services, either in-house or via partnerships with platforms like Your DOST or Tele-MANAS;

(d) whether any centralized audit or annual report is produced to track student uptake, session usage, and impact evaluation across these institutions; and

(e)  whether  the  Government  has  any  plans  to  ensure  that  all  Institutes  of  National  Importance comply with minimum mental-health infrastructure standards by 2026?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR)

(a)  to  (e):  The  Government  of  India,  through  various  policy  measures  and  guidelines,  has emphasised the critical role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in promoting students' mental health, wellbeing and safety. National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) stipulates number of initiatives  to  ensure  that  the  learning  environments  are  engaging  and  supportive.  It  inter  alia provides for availability of professional and career counselling, and counselling system for handling stress and emotional adjustment.

All IITs, IIMs, NITs and IIITs have put in place dedicated mental health or counselling centres within  their campuses,  staffed  with  full-time  or  visiting professional  counsellors,  clinical psychologists, and in some cases, psychiatrists. A large number of institutes often host mental health training sessions to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and educate students about mental health issues. These sessions cover topics such as stress management, coping strategies, and recognizing the signs of mental health issues. Some Institutes offers on/off-campus counseling services, where students can meet with mental health professionals. Many of these institutions have also operationalised mental-health  screening  mechanisms  such  as  structured  questionnaires  and  peer-assessment programmes, during student induction and at regular intervals. Furthermore, 24×7 helpline numbers and  tele-counselling  services  have  been  made  operational  to  ensure  continuous  mental-health support to students.

The Government is taking a multi-pronged approach to provide psychological support to students, teachers, and families for mental and emotional wellbeing. The Ministry of Education's initiative MANODARPAN covers a wide range of activities to provide psychological support through a national toll-free helpline, live interactive sessions 'Sahyog', and webinars 'Paricharcha' that are organised  regularly  to  create  awareness  about  the  importance  of  mental  health  among  all stakeholders.  Manodarpan  also  provides  Directory  of  Counsellors  working  at  both  School  and College/University level on (https://manodarpan.education.gov.in) as a resource for students. Live interactive sessions 'Sahyog' are organized for students on PM e-Vidya Channels, with practicing counsellors from Monday to Friday (from 05:00 pm- 05:30 pm) across different regions. 1133 'Sahyog' sessions were held and more than 12 lakh viewers have been benefitted as on 24.07.2025. Besides the above, the Government (M/o Health & Family Welfare) has launched a "National Tele Mental Health Programme" (NTMHP) on 10th October 2022, to improve access to quality mental health counselling and care services in the country. As on 23.07.2025, 36 States/ UTs have set up 53 Tele MANAS Cells and have started tele mental health services. More than 24 lakh calls have been handled on the helpline number.

UGC has issued Guidelines for Promotion of Physical Fitness, Sports, Student's Health, Welfare, Psychological and Emotional Well- being at HEIs on 13.04.2023, which provide for promoting physical fitness and sports activities for students; creating safeguards against academic pressure, peer pressure, behavioural issues, stress, career concerns, depression and other issues on the mental health of students; to teach positive thinking & emotions in the student community; and to promote a positive and supportive network for students.

The Ministry on 10.07.2023 has also circulated a broad framework for emotional and mental well being of students in HEIs with direction to all Centrally Funded Institutions to develop institutional mechanism to address the emotional and mental wellbeing of students in HEIs.

An Integrated approach for Promoting Positive Mental Health, Resilience, and Wellbeing has been conceptualized under the Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Programme. The goal is to empower faculty  to  address  student  mental  health  concerns  for  early  intervention.  Under  this  integrated approach, so far, 1,949 faculty from over 160 centrally funded HEIs have participated in 27 online capacity building sessions since May 2024.

All institutions have their mechanism for analysing data at the institutional level for studying the trends,  to  understand  the  impact  of  interventions  and  improvement  of  counselling  system.  The process of strengthening and upgrading mental-health infrastructure in educational institutions is accorded due priority.