The Rajya Sabha on December 08, 2023, issued a notification regarding the Mental Healthcare (Amendment) Bill, 2023, to amend the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017.
The following has been stated: -
•In section 2 of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 in sub-section (1)— (a) after clause (g), the following new clause shall be inserted, namely: —
"(ga)"educational institution" means any recognized school imparting primary, elementary, and secondary education, encompassing all types of school managements and categories as per the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) records;
(b)after clause (zb), the following new clause shall be inserted, namely: -
"(zc)"student" means a person between six to eighteen years of age, who is pursuing any course of study in any educational institution."
•In section 29 of the Act, for sub-section (1), the following shall be substituted, namely: - "(1) The appropriate Government shall have a duty to plan, design and implement programmes for the promotion of mental health and prevention of mental illness in the country, with special emphasis on programmes catering to the needs of students in educational institutions."
•After Chapter XIII of the principal Act, the following new Chapter shall be inserted, namely: - Chapter XIIIA Responsibilities of Educational Institutions.
The proposed amendments to the Mental Healthcare Act, of 2017 addresses the mental healthcare needs of students, while also underlining the roles and responsibilities of educational institutions, thus paving the way for holistic redressal of the mental health issues faced by students in the country.
The detailed notification is given in the document attached below.
[Bill No. LIX of 2023]
