Mental Health Support in Schools Needs More Than a Counselor

 A few years ago, if a student said they were feeling anxious, tired, or “just off,” most schools would’ve told them to drink some water and “focus on their studies.” Things have changed.(sort of) Today, many schools are finally starting to acknowledge that mental health is real, and that it matters. A growing number of them even have counselors on campus now. That’s a step forward.

But it’s not the solution. Not just by itself.

Let’s say a school has one counselor for 800 students. That’s not an exaggeration. According to a 2022 report by UNESCO, the average student-to-counselor ratio in India is well above 500:1, and in many schools , especially government ones it's closer to 1,000:1 or worse. In comparison, the American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of 250:1. You don’t need to be a statistician to know better that those numbers don’t add up.

Think about the sheer emotional load in any classroom, students dealing with parental pressure, bullying, loneliness, learning difficulties, gender identity issues, depression, body image struggles, or just the crushing fear of not doing well enough. Now imagine all of that funneled to one person sitting in a tiny office, expected to fix everything in half-hour sessions between classes. It’s not just unrealistic ,it’s almost cruel.

Mental health doesn’t start and stop at the counselor’s door. It starts in the classroom, in the staff room, in the way a teacher responds to a student who’s zoned out in class. It shows up when a student’s marks suddenly drop, or when someone who used to be loud and opinionated starts going quiet. It exists in the silences. And most of those silences go unnoticed because the people who see students everyday, those teachers often aren’t trained to recognize mental health red flags.

In January 2025, a 15‑year‑old student at Global Public School in Kochi tragically ended his life by jumping from his apartment building  a painful result of persistent harassment from schoolmates. According to an investigation, the boy was repeatedly subjected to ragging, including being humiliated over his skin color. He was forced to lick toilet seats, had his head pushed into toilets, and endured torturous treatment both online and offline  .

This is what happens when support is a job title and not a culture. A counselor’s presence is important, yes. But a counselor alone can’t hold up a system that doesn’t prioritize well-being across the board.

Real mental health support should look like this:

• Teachers getting trained to identify signs of distress and respond with empathy, not punishment.

 

• Exams being spaced in ways that don’t leave students burned out by 17.

 

• School policies that make room for breaks, rest, and non-academic forms of success.

 

• Students having someone to talk to before things get so bad they need intervention.

 

Some schools are starting to get this. In Mumbai, a few ICSE schools have introduced peer-led support groups. In Kerala, the “Our Responsibility to Children” initiative has trained thousands of teachers in basic psychological first aid. These are good models. They’re not flashy, but they work because they understand that support has to be normalised in schools.

There’s also the issue of stigma. In many schools, going to a counselor still feels like a last resort, something you do when you’re “not normal.” Students hesitate. Teachers dismiss concerns. Parents panic. A real mental health system can’t survive in a place where people are afraid to even say the words “mental health.”

And then there’s the pressure  the kind we’ve normalized. Marks over everything. Comparison as motivation. The endless grind. This culture doesn’t just ignore mental health but it actively harms it. We shouldn't just teach students how to “cope” better , we should be asking why they have to cope so much in the first place.

Yes, we need counselors. We need more of them, better trained, better paid, better integrated into the school system. But we also need schools where every adult is part of the support system, not just one overworked counselor. Because students don’t experience stress in isolated rooms  they carry it through hallways, classrooms, lunch breaks, and home.

Mental health is not an add-on. It’s not a special service. It’s normal. And until schools start treating it that way, no number of counselors will ever be enough.

By Aditi Sawarkar