Adolescent mental health is becoming an increasingly important public health and education concern, especially in examination oriented education systems. This challenge is particularly visible in many low-and middle-income countries where structured mental health support within schools remains limited. In Bangladesh, secondary education is strongly shaped by high stakes examinations and strong family expectations. However, empirical research examining the relationship between academic pressure, silent emotional distress, and preventive mental health literacy within school settings is still limited.

This multi stakeholder cross sectional study with a pre and post component was conducted across eight administrative divisions of Bangladesh. The study included 5,612 participants consisting of 3,856 students, 352 teachers and 1,156 parents. Students completed structured questionnaires measuring perceived academic pressure, emotional vulnerability, disclosure behaviour and mental health literacy before and after a standardized awareness session. Teachers and parents completed parallel perception surveys.

Results show that 86 percent of students reported that academic pressure negatively affected their mental wellbeing.

Forty five percent of students reported experiencing passive thoughts that they might be better off not being alive, and 92 percent of those students reported that they had not shared these experiences with anyone. Perceived academic pressure showed a significant association with emotional vulnerability. Baseline student mental health awareness was 26 percent, which increased to 87 percent after the intervention. Higher post session literacy was also associated with greater reported willingness to seek help.

These findings suggest a structural pattern in which high academic pressure exists alongside substantial silent emotional distress and low baseline mental health awareness. The results indicate that structured school based mental health literacy initiatives may offer a feasible and scalable preventive strategy within examination oriented secondary education systems in Bangladesh.