India faces a growing, largely neglected crisis in child and adolescent mental health, rooted in early vulnerability and worsened by an unregulated digital environment. India faces an acute shortage of trained child and adolescent mental health professionals. India’s research base on child and adolescent mental health, digital behaviour and early intervention has grown steadily. India can strengthen existing platforms — the National Mental Health Programme, school health services under Ayushman Bharat — health and wellness centre initiative, and tele-mental health initiatives — by introducing routine school-based screening, training teachers and frontline workers in early identification of child and adolescent mental health issues, and reinforcing referral pathways. Normalising conversations around mental health within families, schools and health-care systems is not optional; it is a public health imperative.

Source: The Hindu February 23, 2026 22:36 UTC