Mental Health in Ghanaian Schools: The Missing Subject

Our children can recite multiplication tables and define photosynthesis — but many have no idea how to cope with fear, grief, rejection, or loneliness. They are trained to pass exams, but not to manage their emotions. In classrooms across Ghana, mental health is the subject no one is teaching — yet every student desperately needs it.

What’s really going on in our schools?

Behind the neat uniforms and exam scores, many students are breaking down66 silently. The pressure to perform, fear of being punished for failure, bullying, and even verbal or physical abuse from teachers are taking a toll. In homes, absent or emotionally unavailable parents mean children carry burdens with no one to talk to.

As a result, we now see rising cases of:

Panic attacks and unexplained illnesses

Truancy and withdrawal

Aggression and suicidal thoughts

Low self-worth masked by perfectionism

We’re producing academically successful but emotionally wounded young people. They graduate with degrees, but lack the emotional intelligence to face real life. They know how to compete, but not how to cope. That’s what we’ve become — a nation of brilliant minds with broken spirits.

But it doesn’t have to stay this way.

Dr. David Rex Orgen, Best-Selling Author and International Mental Health Expert, through InspireMind Global, is working to change this narrative. Through school-based programs, his team is:

Teaching children how to process emotions in healthy ways

Training teachers in trauma-informed and empathy-driven education

Supporting schools with counseling clinics and peer support systems

This is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.

It’s time to add mental wellness to the school timetable — right alongside math and English.

📚 Partner with InspireMind Global to build emotionally resilient students.
🌐 www.inspiremindglobal.com
📩 Email: info@inspiremindglobal.com

Let’s raise a generation that knows not only how to pass exams — but how to survive life.

Written by Dr. David Rex Orgen, Best-Selling Author and International Mental Health Expert