The story
A series for teachers · GuruSetu
Monsoon
Semester
Twelve weeks on one campus. Three hundred first-years arrive with the rain, and a few teachers learn to notice them, to ask, and to walk them to help.
- 12
- short animated episodes
- ~93
- minutes, in total
- July → Dec
- one semester, one campus
The idea behind the name
Guru
गुरु
one who dispels darkness
Setu
सेतु
a bridge
You don't need to be a counsellor to help a student. You can be a lamp, the one who notices. And a bridge to the people who can help.
Teachers see more students, more often, than almost anyone else on campus. Monsoon Semester doesn't ask them to replace doctors or counsellors. It asks them to widen the circle, and to know the way to the right door.
How every episode works
A story first. Then the evidence. Then one small thing to try on Monday.
-
01
A story
Scenes on an Indian campus in the rain: a chai stall, a lab, a hostel room, a corridor after class. The situations are ordinary, and so are the people.
-
02
The evidence
Research and policy explained plainly, with hand-drawn diagrams: why an idea works, where it came from, and what the law now asks of institutions.
-
03
Try this week
One concrete practice, small enough to do before the next class, like learning ten names or putting the counsellor's details on your syllabus.
-
04
A phrase to keep
A single sentence worth remembering. Each episode opens one more petal on the flower, until all twelve are open by December.
The people
A campus is made of people who notice. Some of them are teachers.
Episodes
Twelve weeks, twelve episodes.
Every episode is available in English and हिन्दी. Choose a language in the player. Episodes that deal with suicide, crisis or loss begin with a content note and end with support details. Hover over a card to preview it, and click to watch.
0 of 12 practices tried
Your semester
Twelve small practices. Open a petal each time you try one.
Week 1 · The Lamp and the Bridge
Try this week
A phrase to keep
Your progress is saved only in this browser.
Grounded in research and policy
Warm stories, built on evidence.
14%
In a survey of about 30,000 US graduates, only this share remembered all three: a professor who cared about them as a person, one who made them excited to learn, and a mentor who encouraged their dreams.
Episode 134%
In the National Task Force's survey, this share of students said they feel like outsiders on campus. That is about one in three.
Episode 4<4%
Of the institutions that answered the Task Force's survey, fewer than this share said they had a protocol for students at risk of suicide.
Episode 7Law and policy in India
- Mental Healthcare Act, 2017
- National Suicide Prevention Strategy, 2022
- Supreme Court guidelines for institutions, 2025, and its National Task Force
- UGC guidelines on student well-being
Research, told plainly
- The big-fish-little-pond effect
- Social-belonging interventions, and their limits
- “Wise” feedback that pairs high standards with belief
- Reviews showing that asking about suicide does not put the idea in someone's head
- Self-compassion training for teachers
Models that already work
- Friendship Bench, lay counsellors in Goa, Atmiyata in Gujarat
- Campus peer programmes such as MITR, Samvad, Feelings Ka Adda and Manam
- Sangath's CAMPUS project
- The whole-university approach: the Okanagan Charter and the UK University Mental Health Charter
Each episode lists its sources below the video on the GuruSetu platform.
December
In July, it was a few kind teachers.
By December, it was a whole campus.
Be the lamp. Be the bridge.