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A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta gave the Center eight weeks to file a compliance affidavit detailing the steps taken to implement these guidelines.
It was hearing the matter of compliance with the guidelines laid down by the apex court in its July 25 judgment.
In that judgment, the top court had directed that all states and union territories, as far as possible, notify rules within two months mandating registration, student safety norms and grievance redressal mechanisms for all private coaching centres.
During the hearing on Monday, the bench was told that in the July judgment, the Center was directed to file a compliance affidavit before the court within 90 days.
The bench directed that all states and union territories be made respondents in the case and they can file their replies within eight weeks. It posted the matter for further hearing in January 2026.
Taking note of the rise in suicides in educational institutions, the top court stressed on addressing the seriousness of the mental health crisis plaguing students and issued pan-India guidelines to deal with it.
It had said that there remains a “legislative and regulatory void” in the country with respect to an integrated, enforceable framework for prevention of student suicide in educational institutions, coaching centers and student-centric environments.
Issuing 15 guidelines, the bench said that they will remain in force and binding until appropriate law or regulatory framework is enacted by the competent authority.
It said all educational institutions will adopt and implement a uniform mental health policy, taking cues from the ‘UMEED’ draft guidelines, ‘Manodarpan’ initiative and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.
“This policy will be reviewed and updated annually and will be made publicly available on the institutional websites and notice boards of the institutions,” the bench had said.
It said the Center has so far taken several preventive steps to check and correct the situation and at the school level, ‘HOPE’ (Understand, Motivate, Manage, Empathize, Empower and Develop) draft guidelines for prevention of student suicide were released by the Education Ministry in 2023.
It had noted that for wider reach, the Education Ministry had launched ‘Manodarpan’ for the mental health and well-being of students during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
The July 25 judgment came on an appeal against an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court which had rejected a plea to transfer to the CBI the investigation into the unnatural death of a 17-year-old National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test candidate, who was preparing in Visakhapatnam.
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