Bangalore, October 27, 2020: HCL Foundation, the CSR arm of HCL Technologies, is supporting the Happy Schooling Project, which is being implemented in Madurai among the 24 Corporation-run schools since 2017-18. The project has helped in building a strong teacher-student bond and has created a conducive and happy environment for students. It is being technically supported by NIMHANS, Bangalore, and a detailed curriculum has been set on mental health literacy. With the support of Madurai Corporation, the project is now launching a helpline which would support the students in distress and in need of any psychosocial support in a much more streamlined and an effective manner.
Key Highlights of the Project:
- The project has reached out to 11,253 students and more than 250 teachers in the last three years.
- More than 50 teachers have been identified, along with the school heads, who will be trained through a six-day intensive training programme for providing psychosocial support and to develop the competencies in providing counselling to the students in need. The training will further help them understand the use of the available referral network.
- A four-tier mental health literacy session is conducted with the heads of schools; teachers; parents and the students themselves, to exclusively focus on the mental wellbeing of the students.
- An exclusive session was conducted with more than 1400 students of Grade X and XII on the “Art of Writing Exams” to ease out their exam fears. In addition to this, career guidance programme was also conducted to assist them in making an informed choice on their higher studies.
- Student Support centres have been established in all 24 schools and the students have been encouraged to develop their talents through competitions like drawing, craft from waste, collage, poster making among other activities, on different social issues.
- The student support centre has also identified students with psychosocial needs and further referred them for targeted intervention with the project counsellors.
- Students have been encouraged to exhibit their talent through poems/essay/drawing/posters on any social topic every month for ‘Wall Journal’ which has been placed in each school. The displayed works are collected, evaluated, and rewarded by the end of every month in the school to motivate and develop the young talent.
This project is the first of its kind in any government-run school in the State and has been rewarded one of the Best Education Project by the Madurai Corporation on January 26, 2020.
