From Expression to Early Support: Rethinking Student Mental Health Systems in Classrooms and Exam Halls

New Delhi: A growing disconnect between academic performance metrics and student wellbeing is raising concerns about how effectively schools are identifying early signs of mental health challenges, according to education experts. 

Highlighting subtle but critical behavioural shifts in classrooms, Ankur Bansal, CEO and Founder of GDi Partners, noted, “In classrooms across India, there is a pattern that often goes unnoticed. A student who was once expressive and engaged begins to change… ideas give way to minimal responses.”

He pointed out that such changes are rarely reflected in report cards. “Marks may dip slightly, but not enough to trigger concern… by the system’s definition, the student is still doing ‘fine’,” Bansal added, underlining the limitations of traditional evaluation systems.

Experts argue that India’s education framework remains heavily outcome-driven. “Our education system is highly effective at measuring outcomes, but far less equipped to interpret the signals that sit beneath them,” Bansal explained.

Karishma Mehra, Founder of Happiness Quotient, emphasized that learning is deeply influenced by emotional and psychological factors. “A student who is anxious, distracted, or disengaged does not show up the same way in a classroom. Yet these shifts rarely surface in traditional metrics,” she said.

The consequence, according to both experts, is delayed intervention. “By the time concern becomes visible, the student may already be significantly disengaged,” they observed.

The authors suggest that instead of generating more data, schools should focus on interpreting existing classroom signals. “Every day, students generate rich signals through their written expression… these reflect tone, effort, clarity, and engagement over time,” Mehra noted.

They also see a more meaningful role for artificial intelligence in education. “So far, AI has largely been used to assess how much a student has learned. Its more meaningful application may lie in understanding why a student may not be learning,” Bansal said.

Describing a potential use case, he added, “Imagine a system that… identifies when a student’s expression, effort, or engagement deviates from their own baseline over time. The output is not a score. It is a signal.”

Such insights, they argue, would enable timely human intervention. “What follows is not technological intervention but human response—a conversation, a check-in, a moment of attention,” Mehra explained.

The approach also aligns with policy direction. “The National Education Policy introduced the concept of a holistic progress card… but its implementation risks becoming periodic and static unless supported by continuous, real-time insights,” Bansal said.

However, both experts stressed the importance of ethical implementation. “Transparency, consent, and privacy are critical. The goal is not to monitor students, but to ensure that those who are struggling quietly are not overlooked,” Mehra added.

Summing up the need for a systemic shift, Bansal said, “From asking, ‘How is this student performing?’ to asking, ‘What might this student be going through?’—that is the change we need.”

As classrooms grow larger and support systems remain limited, experts believe that combining technology with human judgment could be key to building more responsive and empathetic learning environments.

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