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Journalism of Courage
The Union Ministry of Education (MoE) on Tuesday released the draft guidelines for schools to prevent suicide among students, prescribing in its ‘plan of action’ the setting up of wellness teams, orientation of teachers and family members, and immediate response to students exhibiting warning signs.
Titled UMMEED (Understand, Motivate, Manage, Empathise, Empower, Develop), the guidelines aim to serve as “directions to schools for enhancing sensitivity, understanding, and providing support in case of reported self-harm”.
“A school wellness team (SWT) may be formed under the leadership of the school principal, where each member is oriented in handling crisis situations. When a student displaying warning signs has been identified by any stakeholder, they need to be reported to the SWT, which takes immediate action,” the guidelines state. The guidelines recommend an orientation a year for teachers and family members, to help build awareness around student suicides. These orientations will be conducted by the schools for the capacity-building of various stakeholders.
Stressing the need for immediate response to a student exhibiting warning signs, or found attempting self-harm, the guidelines list the actions that may be taken by an individual at the school, or the member of the wellness team on coming across such a case.
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