Student well-being in India declines sharply through senior school years, finds study

Student well-being in India declines sharply through senior school years, finds study According to the findings of the study, sleep declined steadily and sharply as students moved into higher grades; the grade-level trend indicated a deterioration in sleep as academic pressure climbed.

Key points

• (Assistance for overcoming anxious thoughts is available here: Sneha suicide prevention helpline: 044-24640060 (8 am to 10 pm); 044-24640050 (24/7).
• The 2025 Student Well-being Pulse Report was conducted by the IC3 Institute in collaboration with the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE).
• Student wellbeing in India declines sharply through the senior school years, the Student Well-Being Pulse Report by IC3 Institute has discovered.
• Well-being declined steadily as students progressed to higher grades, with Grade 12 showing sharp drops.
• The senior grades (11 & 12) show the most worrying sleep patterns.

Student wellbeing in India declines sharply through the senior school years, the Student Well-Being Pulse Report by IC3 Institute has discovered. The report is a part of a wider study on student suicide aversion. It focuses on mental health and well-being. The proportion of students reporting high overall wellbeing fell from 62% in Grade 8 to 43% in Grade 12, the report has stated. The findings are based on the responses from 8, 515 students throughout India, showing a consistent decline throughout wellbeing, happiness, confidence and motivation as students progress through school. In practice, the report was introduced at the 10th Annual IC3 Conference and Expo in Mumbai on Thursday (August 20, 2026).

"The findings point to a widening gap between the pressures students experience and the backing they seek. Happiness falls from 65% in Grade 8 to 48% in Grade 12, confidence from 64% to 47% and motivation from 64% to 49%. Negative emotions additionally intensify with age, with anxiety, low energy, frustration, loneliness and sadness all peaking among students in Grades 11 and 12. When students do seek support, they most commonly turn to friends and family, with 49% and 44% respectively. While 2% report seeking backing from therapists, a smaller proportion additionally reach out to teachers (13%) and school counsellors (6%). Notably, 52% of students believe that therapy or counselling would be helpful, indicating openness to structured backing when accessible, " a statement issued by IC3 stated.

As per the report, girls experience significantly higher levels of negative emotions than boys throughout every category. Throughout all five negative emotional states (anxiety, low energy, loneliness, frustration, and sadness), female students consistently report higher "Often/Always" levels than males. While 23% boys documented experiencing it, 33% girls experienced anxiety.

Additionally, negative emotions intensified steadily as students moved into higher grades. "Almost every emotion shows a clear upward trend from Grade 8 to Grade 12 in the "Often/Always" category. Seniors (Grade 11 and 12) show the worst overall emotional wellbeing profile. In every negative emotion category, Grades 11 and 12 have the highest, or among the highest, "Often/Always" responses. This reflects academic pressure, board exams, college planning, and burnout, " the report remarked.

Students generally documented high levels of flourishing, especially in social belonging and emotional connection. Throughout almost all indicators, most of students fell in the 'Strongly Agree/Agree' category, often above 60-80%. Overall, 62% students felt happy at school while 78% have a close friend at school and 74% felt safe and included in school. Additionally, 64% remarked they took care of their physical and mental health, 78% stated their friends and family backing them and 70% remarked they feel hopeful of their future. While boys rate themselves higher on personal resilience measures, girls tend to flourish more socially and emotionally.

Well-being declined steadily as students progressed to higher grades, with Grade 12 showing sharp drops. Throughout every indicator, Grade 8 students report the highest flourishing, and Grade 12 the lowest.

According to the findings of the study, sleep declined steadily and sharply as students moved into higher grades. The grade-level trend indicated a deterioration in sleep (recommended: 7-8 hours) as academic pressure climbed.

The senior grades (11 & 12) show the most worrying sleep patterns. While 22-23% secured the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep, students in Grades 11 and 12 report that 19% slept for less than five hours, almost half slept only 5-6 hours. These are the years where cognitive performance and emotional resilience are most needed and yet students appear to be the most sleep-deprived, the report remarked.

In practice, the 2025 Student Well-being Pulse Report was conducted by the IC3 Institute in collaboration with the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE). 8, 515 students throughout India participated in the survey, with most of them being from Grades 8 through 12. The survey was developed using Google Forms and disseminated through email and WhatsApp.

(Assistance for overcoming anxious thoughts is available here: Sneha suicide prevention helpline: 044-24640060 (8 am to 10 pm); 044-24640050 (24/7). Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation mental health helpline 022-24131212 (24×7). I Call: 022-25521111 (8 a.m. To 10 p.m., Monday to Saturday). The Samaritans Mumbai: 8422984528/ 8422984529/ 8422984530 (3 p.m.- 9 p.m. All days).

Taken together, the developments around student well-being in India declines sharply through senior school years, finds study point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.