Mental Health Crises in Nigeria: The Urgent Need for Mental Health Education in Secondary Schools

Education is the foundation and instrument for social change in any society. There is no nation that can grow when the mental health of the citizen is in crisis hence there is a need for improvement in the nation’s mental development. With one in four Nigerians suffering from mental illness according to World Health Organization,15th in the world on the frequency of suicide and Africa’s highest caseload of depression; there is need for total overhaul in the country’s medical and mental health care in order to arrest  this problem now before the country loses its younger generation to mental disorders. The situation of Nigerian mental health system is also becoming worrisome as her policy is more focused on the” traditional health system” than qualitative social-emotional development. This explains the reasons her mental health system is still a national discourse with undoubtedly a number of significant impediments in the last decade as it continues to struggle with implementation and assurance of quality mental health policy. This paper therefore x-rayed the need for education in dealing with mental health issues from the cradle of adolescence which is secondary schools given that the emergence of mental illness is more common among younger people who are presumed to be in that category of educational feat using secondary sources of data and scholar’s views to highlight why mental health education need to start from secondary schools. It was recommended among others for a total overhaul of the educational curriculum that will provide mind developing contents which will handle the mental health issues in schools