Time for Change

Schools all over the world are realising the importance of mental health of their students and are prioritising it by placing it on a pedestal that deems it as important as physical health. In India alone, statistics have shown that 1 out of 5 children and unhealthy mentally and suffer from many psychological disorders and complexes. Since schools are the sites of a child’s foundation building, both intellectually and physically, teachers of today can contribute a great deal towards the well-being of their students, especially mentally. Keeping in mind the role of teachers in improving their students’ mental health, here is a short, self composed poem aimed towards awakening the society and urging them to accept the actual existence and urgency of mental disorders and diseases in young children.

Time for Change

I ask for no utopia,
Nor do I ask for idealism,
And a perfect land of unending harmony,
No, I even refrain to demand that ecstasy.

But I ask for a change,
In the temples of education,
Foundations of the future,
To expand their role from just places of academic nature.

I ask them to wake up,
Recognise mental health as the need of the hour,
Realise that 1 in 5 high school students are unhealthy mentally,
And need education-not academic, but psychological-to be healthy again completely.

Observe, understand, raise awareness,
Help your students rise from depression, anxiety and other disorders,
Pioneer a society where these issues are not labelled “just a phase”,
So that our country can proudly boast its remarkable education,
Accompanied with  great mental health and earn global praise.

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