Adolescence is a critical developmental stage for mental health and its disorders. Mental Health Literacy (MHL) may play a significant role in the improvement of mental health in adolescents, helping early detection and intervention of those mentally disturbed. The present study aims to investigate the current status of school-based MHL programs in the world. A systematic review was conducted of the literatures about school-based MHL education programs. The PubMed and the Web of Science were used for the search of literatures in English with keywords “mental health literacy” and “school”. Literatures in Japanese were searched using the Cinii with keywords “gakko (school) ” and “seishin-hoken kyoiku (mental health education) or seishin-hoken literacy (mental health literacy) ”. With the inclusion criteria consisting of “for secondary school students (aged 13-18 years) ”, “with the goal to improve MHL”, “programs conducted in school classes or courses” and “with assessment of the effect of the program”, 13 studies were found mainly from Europe and North America, but not from Japan. Most of the programs cover knowledge on mental illnesses, prevention of stigmatization and encouragement of help-seeking. Significant effects on these issues were observed in most of the studies. In addition to this search, mental health education programs which are conducted nationwide were searched using the Google with keywords”, “school “mental health”, “education” and “program”. Four nationwide school-based MHL education programs were found in Australia, U.K. (England and Wales), Canada and the United States. These nationwide programs were based on the collaboration of the community around schools, and aimed to improve mental health and its literacy (including knowledge on mental illnesses) in all students. They also aimed to help early intervention in high risk students. It may be concluded that MHL studies and programs are developed, practiced and prevailing in several developed countries, while few studies were conducted in Japan. Development of the studies and programs may be recommended in Japan.