Panel formed for grievance system on students' safety & mental health

Chhatrapati Sambhajiangar: In view of the safety, mental health and grievance redressal of students of higher education, the State Government decided to prepare a separate 'student safety and grievance redressal policy.

A 12-member expert committee has been formed for students of public and private universities. The Higher and Technical Education Department instructed the committee to submit a detailed report within two months.

In the orders of the Supreme Court, the Government was ordered to take concrete measures to prevent incidents of suicide and issues related to the mental health of students in all educational institutions in the State.

In view of this, the Chief Secretary of the State instructed all universities to create a mental health support system for students.

The Director of Higher Education was appointed as the coordinating officer. The director submitted a proposal to constitute an expert committee to prepare a coherent policy for student safety standards and grievance redressal. The Government approved this proposal and appointed the committee.

Dr Hemlata Bagla, Vice Chancellor of HSNC University, Mumbai, will be the chairman. It will have 12 experts from the fields of law, psychology, National Service Scheme (NSS), student welfare and administration as members.

It will formulate a policy to address the mental health of students in higher education institutions, suicide incidents, complaints of harassment, discrimination or misbehaviour. The report will serve as a guiding framework.