India, Oct. 13 -- In early 2022, the Education Ministry asked 3.79 lakh schoolchildren how they were doing. Eighty-one per cent said studies, examinations and results made them anxious. Satisfaction with school and life fell sharply in Classes 9 to 12, when we ask the most of them.

This World Mental Health Day's theme is "Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change". India has the first half on record. The second half is where we must now move. The cost is visible. The National Crime Records Bureau recorded 14,488 student suicides in 2024, the highest in a decade. Many were in classrooms in their final weeks, among adults untrained to notice.

The deeper problem is conceptual: we have mistaken mental illness for mental health. Coun...