Goa, India (NewsVoir)
The Indian education system stands at a critical juncture. With 1 in 5 students suffering from some Mental health issue, we need to consider it nothing less than a pandemic. While the country has made remarkable progress in expanding access to education with more than 30,000 colleges and 1000+ universities, a deeper examination of classroom dynamics reveals persistent flaws that demand urgent reform. Our current approach to education often prioritizes rote learning, exam-based assessments, and outdated teaching methodologies, leading to increased mental health issues among students. It is time we shift our focus toward a more holistic, skill-based, and student-centric learning environment in the classrooms of our institutions.
A System Stuck in the Past
Despite rapid advancements in technology and pedagogy worldwide, Indian classrooms remain largely unchanged. Traditional lecture-based teaching continues to dominate, leaving little room for creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. This rigid approach not only stifles student engagement but also places immense psychological pressure on young minds, contributing to anxiety, burnout, and, in extreme cases, tragic instances of student suicides.The days of giving a monologue by a faculty to unattentively bored and dis-interested students should have been over years back.
Mental Health Pandemic in Higher Education
The mental well-being of students has become a growing concern in India’s higher education institutions. The relentless pressure to excel in competitive exams, the stigma associated with failure, and the absence of structured mental health support create an environment where students struggle in silence. Unfortunately, whatever efforts are being made to address these issues are reactionary rather than preventative. We tend to respond only after crises occur, instead of implementing proactive strategies to nurture students’ emotional resilience and well-being from an early stage.
Breaking Free from Rote Learning: Time to Bring in AI in classrooms
One of the most damaging aspects of our education system is its over-reliance on rote memorization. Instead of fostering curiosity and innovation, students are trained to memorize and reproduce information without truly understanding concepts. This not only diminishes their ability to apply knowledge in real-world scenarios but also suppresses independent thinking. To build a workforce ready for the challenges of the 21st century, we must encourage active learning, critical analysis, and experiential education. Infact, we have made the investments at Galgotias university to make it a point that old lecture style classrooms are done away with to a large extent and made almost all classrooms collaborative and technology enabled to ensure teaching is done to enhance the retention of our learners.
The Need for Preventative Measures in Mental Health
The current model of mental health intervention in universities is largely post-mortem-action is taken only after visible distress signals emerge. This approach fails to address the root causes of stress, such as academic pressure, social isolation, and unrealistic expectations. Universities must integrate mental wellness programs into their curriculum, provide easy access to counselling services, and normalize conversations around mental health.The need for strong mental health support on campuses with well trained counsellors is one of the most critical needs in higher education institutions. Galgotias has established a mental wellness centre in partnership with HCL healthcare to ensure students get personalised attention with scientific technology enabled follow-ups in due course as needed by students, faculties and parents both on and off the campus.
About the author :
Dr. Dhruv Galgotia is the CEO of Galgotias University and recently spoke at the QS India Summit on Mental health in Indian Institutions held in Goa.
