Parliament Watch: Mental Health in school curriculum, teacher deaths due to COVID-19 and more [Day 18 round up]

The eighteenth day of the Winter Session saw responses on issues ranging from death of school teachers due to COVID-19, introducing mental health in school curriculum and more..Minister of State in the Ministry of Education Dr Subhas Sarkar mentioned that 327 teaching/non-teaching staff expired owing to COVID-19 and none of them died while executing COVID-19 duties, in response to a question tabled before the Rajya Sabha by two Members of Parliament (MPs)..In a question posed by BJD MP Dr Amar Pattnaik on the initiatives taken by the Central Government to address mental health challenges faced by the youth in India post the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Sarkar stated that the Ministry of Education has initiated 'Manodarpan' as part of school curriculum. The program has a working group of experts and covers "a wide range of activities to provide psychosocial support to students, teachers and families for Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing during the COVID outbreak and beyond."The program will aid in counselling services, providing online resources and a helpline, among other initiatives as shown below :.43 sedition cases have been registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Assembly Protection Act (UAPA) and Sedition under the Indian Penal Code against Indian citizens in 2021 with zero acquittals, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai stated when a question was asked by INC MP Anand Sharma.The response indicates that there are 28 cases in which chargesheet has not been filed and and 15 cases in which chargesheet has been filed.