CEO SPEAKS

Mental Health Support: The Missing 'Infrastructure' in Indian Education

- DR SANKU BOSE

When we think of infrastructure in education, the images that mostly come to our minds are of classrooms, libraries, and increasingly digital infrastructure like shiny, AI-enabled labs. These are tangible, visible assets, proof that an institution is serious about providing quality education. But there is another form of infrastructure, no less essential, that has long been neglected? One that doesn't appear on promotional videos but without which no amount of physical expansion can make an institution truly complete? That invisible infrastructure component, according to me, is mental health support.

The urgency of this conversation is undeniable. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), more than 13,000 students in India died by suicide in 2022 alone, an average of more than 35 young lives lost every single day. These tragic numbers hide countless others silently struggling with anxiety, depression, burnout and loneliness. Academic pressure, parental expectations, financial stress, and the uncertainties of a rapidly changing world weigh heavily on our youth. In my own interactions as Vice Chancellor of Sister Nivedita University (SNU), I have seen students who excel in academics but quietly suffer emotionally. The brightest of minds sometimes carry the heaviest burdens. And unless we create safe spaces and professional systems to address these, we risk losing talent before it even has a chance to bloom. To treat mental health as an afterthought in education is not only short-sighted, it is patently irresponsible.