'Sathiya' corners to be set up in UP govt schools to counsel students on adolescence issues

In a first, 'Sathiya' corners will come up in campuses of government-run secondary schools in Uttar Pradesh in a bid to provide the students a safe space where they can talk about their personal and adolescence issues. A room will be assigned within the school campuses where students will get a chance to have a confidential one-on-one conversation with a teacher-cum-instructor. 'Sathiya' aims to make all students acquainted with adolescence and coming of age experiences.

According to Dr Anand Agarwal, who is the DGM of adolescent health in the national health mission, "the initiative will start from 36 intermediate schools, two in each of the 18 divisions. In all, 72 teachers will be trained for the first batch and later the initiative will be expanded across more schools for adolescent students."

Agarwal further added that co-ed schools will be first chosen for the initiative and 'Sathiya' corners will come up in girl schools in districts that do not have a government-run co-ed secondary school. A final list of schools where the initiative will kick off along with the training of teachers is expected to be completed by April in order to make sure that the facility is up and running from the new academic session.