Perceived Mental Health among Teachers with Particular Reference to Begusarai District of North Bihar, India

Abstract

The present study is aimed at studying the degree of perceived mental health among teachers working in private and government schools with particular reference to Begusarai district of North Bihar, India. It is generally observed that teachers differ to each other in respect of their institutional values, other related opportunities and problems, therefore, the present investigation is planned to make a comparative study of perceived mental health among teachers working in private and government schools of Begusarai district– a well-known town of North Bihar. The sample of the present investigation consisted of one hundred sixty (N = 160) teachers comprising Government School (n=80) and Private School (n=80) randomly selected from different corners of Begusarai district where teachers resides. It was hypothesized that teachers working in private school in Begusarai district would have better mental health in comparison to the teachers working in government schools especially in Begusarai district. A standardized mental health inventory developed by Jagdish and Srivatava (2003) was administered individually on the sample. This inventory also consists of 6 dimensions such as self- evolution, perception of reality, integration of personality, autonomy and stability, growth oriented attitude and environmental mastery. In this inventory high score indicates good mental health. Finally, results revealed significant difference between means of two groups of private and government school teachers as t was found statistically significant. Although, government school teacher has been found to have better mental health as compared to private school teachers, hence, such discrepancy of results has been discussed in detail by giving probable reasons.