Hyderabad: A man covered 1250 Kilometres on foot so far to spread awareness on mental health in schools. He aims to cover a total distance of 4,000 Kilometres.
“Growing up, I never heard terms like depression, anxiety, mental health, and just the occasional ‘suicides’ were reported. I always thought that something must be wrong with youngsters who choose to take their lives until I faced a similar situation in 2017 when I decided to take mine due to a spine injury that ended my career in the Armed Forces, Pune (National Defence Academy),” said Ronit Ranjan, Life Coach, and former Armed Force personnel speaking to ANI.
“We all know mental health isn’t discussed openly in several households. With COVID-19, depression has further skyrocketed in our society. Help is available but hardly availed. This is because we are never educated to recognise the signs and seek care. While there are conversations around mental health on social media sometimes, the ground-level reality is abysmal.”
Ranjan had also started a petition asking the Ministry of Education to incorporate mandatory mental health curriculum in schools for class 9-12 students.
He mentioned the curriculum (non-graded) is not about adding more syllabus, but rather educating and sensitizing the students through dialogues, discussions, activities, feedbacks, exercises, skill training. It’s high time that the schools should observe ‘mental health week’ or “mental health day’ in schools yearly,” he suggested.
In support of this petition, Ranjan is walking from Kanyakumari to Leh (4000 kilometres); which started on November 16, 2020. On this journey, he is meeting various government officials, making pit stops at schools, local government bodies and private institutions.
Along with the online signatures, Ranjan said, “I’m getting offline signatures of people who do not have access to internet or smartphone; mental health should be accessible to all. As of now, I’ve covered 1250 Kilometers, visited many schools and college representatives through physical and virtually meets and have met government officials from different districts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. I am currently in Hyderabad.”
Ranjan estimated his arrival in Delhi by March 31, 2021. Upon reaching Delhi, he said, “I will try to approach Ramesh Pokhriyal, Union Education Minister and present the petition.”
He aims to see a day when Indian teenagers can openly talk about their issues, seek support from their parents and peers without being judged, build their ‘mental muscle’ and enhance not only their well-being but that of the entire Indian society.