New Delhi (Gaurav Bhagat): CBSE’s annual psycho-social counselling, rolled out ahead of board exams, signals a sharper, overdue recognition that student mental wellbeing is not a “side issue” but central to learning outcomes and classroom stability. According to CBSE, this counselling initiative has been running for decades and is offered free during the examination period for Classes X and XII.
Counselling, however, is most effective when it is not the only safety net. If we keep relying on helplines and last-mile interventions during exam season, we are essentially treating symptoms after stress has already peaked. What schools need is upstream prevention: life skills that build resilience and teachers who are trained to spot and respond to distress early.
Stress is not a phase; it’s a pattern
According to NCERT’s national survey on the mental health and wellbeing of school students, exams and results are a major source of anxiety, with a large proportion of students in middle and secondary grades reporting exam-related stress. This should end the debate on whether academic pressure is normal motivation or a structural problem in the way we teach, test, and talk about success.
And the stakes are not abstract. According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2023 (ADSI 2023), the country recorded 13,892 student suicides in 2023, a figure that should force education systems to stop treating mental health as an annual awareness week.
Life skills aren’t extra; they are the missing academic infrastructure
When academic stress comes from being overloaded, constantly comparing yourself to others, and worrying about failing, what helps most isn’t a motivational quote or a single “well-being class.” It’s practical life skills you can actually learn and use. Things like calming yourself down when you feel overwhelmed, bouncing back after setbacks without falling apart, managing your time and energy in a way that’s realistic, and breaking problems into smaller steps so they feel doable. Add in clear communication and healthy boundaries, being able to ask questions, say “I’m struggling,” and reach out for support, and you start to feel less stuck and more in control.
According to CBSE’s Life Skills, Health and Wellbeing program material, CBSE schools are expected to integrate life skills education (Classes VI–X) to strengthen self-confidence and help students navigate life processes in healthier ways. The practical implication is simple: a child who learns how to handle pressure learns better. A child who can’t regulate stress may memorize content but will struggle to retrieve it under exam conditions and may internalize every setback as a personal failure.
What integration can look like
- Two-minute skill drills embedded into regular periods (breathing reset before tests, “plan your 3 tasks” at the start of class).
- Assessment literacy for students: how to interpret feedback, how to improve, and how to fail safely.
- Project-based learning with reflection prompts: What was hard? What did you do when stuck? Who helped?
- Peer support structures: buddy systems and student-led wellbeing clubs with adult supervision.
Teacher preparedness is the lever we keep ignoring
Students don’t always walk into a counselor’s office. They show up in classrooms withdrawn, irritable, exhausted, unusually silent, unusually aggressive, chronically absent, or suddenly disengaged. If teachers aren’t trained to read these cues, we miss the window for early support.
Preparedness doesn’t mean turning every teacher into a therapist. It means building basic mental health literacy and response protocols into teacher capacity:
- Recognising early indicators of distress and burnout
- Knowing what not to say (minimising, shaming, comparison)
- Knowing what to do next (listen, document, refer, follow up)
- Creating psychologically safer classrooms (predictable routines, respectful language, non-punitive doubt-clearing)
According to the Ministry of Education’s Manodarpan initiative (via NCERT materials), psychosocial support is envisioned not just for students, but also for teachers and families, because the ecosystem shapes the child.
Rebuilding assessment culture: reduce pressure without lowering standards
Academic stress is not only about workload. It’s also about the message that one exam equals one life. That belief is culturally reinforced by schools, families, and often unintentionally by teachers.
According to the National Education Policy 2020, the system must move toward regular formative assessment for learning and promote life skills such as communication, cooperation, teamwork, and resilience.
This is where schools can act immediately:
- More low-stakes checks, fewer high-stakes shocks (short quizzes + feedback loops).
- Retake and improvement opportunities for selected competencies.
- Rubrics that reward process, not just final answers.
- De-load exam months by freezing non-essential activities during peak periods and protecting sleep and recovery time.
What a “resilience-first” school system would look like
A truly preventive approach would make exam-season counselling the backup, not the frontline. Students would enter high-pressure periods already equipped with coping tools, and teachers would be trained to respond early and refer appropriately. According to CBSE, psycho-social counselling is a meaningful support layer. But the stronger shift now is this: we must stop teaching children that stress is a price of success. The price is too high, and the data is too loud. If we want resilient learners, we must build resilient systems: life skills in the timetable, mental health literacy in teacher training, and assessment practices that measure learning without manufacturing fear.
