Lycee Francais school-MGMCRI pact on mental health for students

LIFP & SBV partner to promote mental health among school children. Nirmal Coumare & Jean-Marie Yhuel sign pact. WHO recommends multilevel programme for variegated socio-economic environment. MGMCRI to facilitate comprehensive mental health for young minds.

Lycee Francais international de Pondichery (LIFP) has entered into a partnership with Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, a constituent unit of Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, for organising mental health programmes among school children.

The agreement in this regard was signed by Nirmal Coumare, Director of Health, Hospitals and Outreach programmes, SBV, and Jean-Marie Yhuel, Principal, LIFP, which is a part of The Agency for French Education Abroad (AEFE) network that comprises more than 500 French high schools globally.

On the occasion of formalising the pact, Dr. Coumare highlighted the imperative to promote holistic and sustained mental health among school children, especially in view of their gullible age, changing physiological milieu and superimposed psycho-social attributes.

Mr. Jean-Marie expressed hope that the scope of the partnership, spanning the screening, diagnosis, counselling, certification of the disability, and engaging the parents and caretakers of their ward’s mental health status from time to time, would help benefit the school-goers. This, he said, was especially relevant, at a time when both the French and the Indian Governments are laying utmost emphasis on school mental health.

Nihar Ranjan Biswas, Vice Chancellor, SBV, said the World Health Organisation (WHO) has strongly recommended mental health intervention at the schools to be enabled at four levels. This multilevel programme has to be essentially adopted in our country because of our variegated socio-economic environment, he noted.

Avudaiyappan, Professor of Psychiatry, MGMCRI referenced the inter-sectoral role aimed at promoting mental health and succinctly explained the multipronged approach that will be facilitated towards conferring comprehensive mental health on the young minds in LIFP.

A.R. Srinivasan, Registrar, SBV, Seetesh Ghose, MGMCRI Dean and Asha Suresh Babu, General Manager (Administration) also participated in the ceremony.