Rono Hills, Nov 28: A leadership engagement workshop for principals and headmasters/headmistresses from 12 government and private schools under the Itanagar Capital Region and Papum Pare district was held at Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) here on Friday.
The workshop was organised as part of ICMR-supported Multistate Implementation Research Study on Suicide Risk Reduction and Improving Mental Well-being among school and college students, undertaken by the Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies (AITS), RGU, in collaboration with the Department of School Education.
The session focused on strengthening institutional preparedness and developing standard protocol documents to effectively manage crisis situations such as cases of attempted suicide, student vulnerability, and other high-risk scenarios. Participants emphasised the urgent need for clear, structured guidelines to handle such emergencies within school campuses.
Several school leaders shared experiences of responding to incidents of severe emotional distress and suicidal behaviour among students. While individual efforts are being made to support students and coordinate with parents, it was observed that most institutions currently lack formal standard operating procedures (SOPs) to address such critical situations.
The workshop also highlighted the “ripple effect” of such incidents on classmates, peers, teachers and families, underscoring the importance of a coordinated and compassionate institutional response to reduce further risk and support recovery.
The schools onboarded for the project aimed at building resilient and mentally healthy campuses include Alphabet Public School (Nirjuli), Alphabet Girls’ Residential School (Nirjuli), Government Higher Secondary School (Nirjuli), VKV (Nirjuli), Little Star School (Papunallah), Abotani Vidya Niketan (Pachin), Little Rose School (Naharlagun), Government Secondary School (Pachin), Government Higher Secondary School (Polo Colony), PM SHRI Government Higher Secondary School (Doimukh), Government Secondary School (G-Sector, Naharlagun), St Thomas Residential School (Naharlagun) and VKV, PTC Banderdewa.
The initiative marks an important step towards strengthening mental health support systems in educational institutions and fostering safer, more resilient learning environments for students.