Dhanya C is a teacher who works with young students. She talks about why it’s important for children to feel happy and safe in school. She shares easy tips for teachers, parents, and counsellors to help kids be kind, stay strong, and balance schoolwork with having a good life.

Emotional well-being is the heart of a fulfilling life, and it shapes how we think, act, and connect with others. This article discusses how, in today’s fast-paced, high-pressure world, caring for our mental and emotional health is no longer optional; it’s essential. When we nurture our emotions, we build resilience, create stronger relationships, and unlock the confidence to face life’s challenges with grace.
UNSDG has ranked personal well-being as number three, which goes to show the importance of being given to our emotional well-being, how to tackle the problems, etc. The person can understand what he is going through, how to manage it, and express it properly. We should teach the community the methods to understand what we are going through, how to manage it, and how to present it more healthily. We should be resilient in balancing the emotions. When we are facing the challenges of our life, it is the time we have to come back properly. A survey shows that over 70% of students are facing emotional issues, anxiety, and there are many reasons for it. More than 50% educators also feel burnt-out. We should not give importance to academic excellence alone, but also to our emotional well-being. Once students understand this, they will focus better on their academics and develop their social skills and personal life holistically. We should also know how to maintain the work-life balance. They should know how to tackle emotions properly. Mainly, the assessments and back-to-back homework are the challenges faced by the students. The older generation managed it somehow, but the current generation feels the pressure of the expectations of educators and parents. Each child is unique, and when we set an expectation in the class, it is stressful for them. We should know if they understand what we are teaching.
The next pressure is bullying, not just from peers or friends, but also when somebody judges the other person. The teachers should not be judgmental about their students when they express their emotions to them. There are emotional literacy gaps, which are nothing but situations where the student is not able to speak up about what he is going through. This is currently seen even in grade 1 students. If we do not address these issues, they will break out differently or withdraw themselves completely from everything. Educators also feel this sense of burnout because of long working hours. Post-COVID, the online classes have created an expectation on both sides. They are unable to meet the benchmark set for themselves, which leads to procrastination. The emotional demands at home we do not know how to handle. Work-life balance is very important, but many of us do not know how, where and when to balance. Most of the organisations or schools do not have an SEN educator or a counsellor, and so the students do not know where to go and speak up. Often, students need somebody to listen to them and not advise them. So, these are some of the challenges faced by the educators.
Nurturing minds, building resilience
To build a holistic development of emotional well-being, we have to focus on emotions, social well-being, be open with colleagues and be friendly with them. We need to be physically fit also by doing exercises, getting proper sleep, and eating a proper diet. Everything is a lesson and experience. So, we need to be physically, emotionally, socially, and mentally healthy to achieve holistic development. To achieve emotional literacy, we can spend a few minutes on an activity in the classroom, such as circle time. By following this, the students build social and emotional learning into their curriculum or by doing activities like gratitude journaling. We can thank someone for the good food, good dress, a proper place to live in, and we can introduce meditation in the class and breathing exercises. The children can focus on breathing rather than thinking about assignments or tests. There should be peer support in the classroom to support each other.
Safe Space for Children
We should also provide a safe space for the children. We should never be judgmental of a student when he tries to share his problems or emotions with us. Activities such as gratitude journaling, storytelling, role-playing with moral values, and being empathetic towards others can be taught. Kindness chain is a small activity where in chits we can write some good points which will make a change. The students can thank somebody, praise a teacher or someone, and it is basically an appreciation note. The educators should have professional development too. We can have a workshop on how to practise a self-care routine and prioritise health. We need to take a break now and then and pursue our hobbies. We need to have SEN educators or counsellors who can visit the classrooms often to vent out our emotions. Journaling on what they did on that day, how they felt about it, etc, can be written there. There should be constant monitoring of the child and the educator to solve their problems. The sensitive needs should be met and not ignored. When a student or an educator is going through tough times, they can practise breathing exercises. Apps like Mood Meter will tell us a detailed report about our mental health. So, emotional well-being should be given priority, unlike the olden days when we did not know about this. We can discuss with other teachers about students’ behaviour and emotions. We have to pay proper attention to our emotions.When we have counsellors in the school, they will assess the children, use a questionnaire for this purpose, which will help them understand what the child is undergoing. This will help them to measure the children’s emotional well-being, and also for the educators. Yes, feedback matters a lot. We have to discuss this with the parents also. Sometimes, the children will not open up to their parents but will talk to the teacher. So, as a learning community, it is the duty of the counsellor and the school to share what the assessment tells about the child to the parents for them to understand. In olden days, there were no assessments given to students, nor were there any counsellors. Counsellors were available outside the school. But every school or most of them now have SEN educators in the school as full-time employees to address the issues of students and educators.
We have to have an orientation session with the parents. We need to talk to them because the whole community or world population does not give importance to emotional well-being. We know we are stressed, but we will not give importance to it. So, we need to talk to the parent community, give them a strategy on how to handle kids at home. Parents will come up with different points about their children’s behaviour. So, having an open forum will surely help the parent community to handle the children at home when it comes to emotional needs. The first challenge is parents questioning the school about whether their child is mentally and emotionally ok. It is still considered a stigma when we talk about emotions. So, the parents may not allow their children to attend the assessment. For this, an open forum in the school where we talk to parents will help. We should be open to discussing this with them.
Reforming schools
We, educators, should be open-minded in accepting the emotional turmoil and the need to address the issues.
If schools are to prepare children for life, not just for exams, then emotional well-being must be placed at the heart of education reform. Every timetable should carry space for reflection, peer support, and self-care activities alongside academics. Professional development for teachers must go beyond subject mastery to include training in empathy, active listening, and emotional literacy. By making counsellors, safe spaces, and well-being practices a non-negotiable part of school culture, we can ensure that every child grows up not only knowledgeable, but resilient, compassionate, and confident. Reforming schools with emotional well-being at the centre will shape a generation ready to thrive in both learning and life. This shift will also reduce teacher burnout.

Contact:
Dhanya C
Junior School Coordinator
M:9994354418
E:dhanyamca4@gmail.com