Delhi govt to launch 'happiness curriculum' from July in its schools

NEW DELHI: With things returning to normalcy at the Delhi Secretariat, after the sit-in protest was called off on Tuesday by the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues, the Education department of Delhi government on Wednesday finalised the plan of the 'happiness curriculum' to be adopted in its schools.

"The happiness curriculum is ready and it will be launched by the Dalai Lama on July 2," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told reporters here.

"The curriculum will be taught to around eight lakh students from nursery up to Class VIII students of all Delhi government schools from July," he added. The final draft of the curriculum was approved at a meeting chaired by Sisodia, who also heads the Education department.

The curriculum will include subjects such as meditation, moral values and mental exercises, and its core idea is to produce "sarvagun sampann (versatile) professionals and human beings, who could serve the society with happiness", the Deputy CM said.

"After ten years or more, these children will become professionals like doctors and engineers filled with happiness and serve the society," he said.

Citing his visit to Harvard University, Sisodia said that the authorities there told him that they were running "happiness" courses, but that they were not as large as what the Delhi government was planning for its 1,000 schools, which teach eight lakh students.

He further said that work had started on the curriculum in January this year and a team of 35-40 experts were involved in the project.

"There will be no textbooks, but activities for teachers and students that they will do every day. Teachers will create a situation where they can talk about feelings of students on issues like peer pressure, exam pressure, the expectation from family and bullying," said an official of the Education department.

Officials said the State Council of Educational Research and Training is developing a set of learning outcomes for a happiness curriculum.

The Directorate of Education also plans to give national and international exposure to train the teachers who will teach the curriculum.

The move comes in the backdrop of horrific instances reported in schools, including murder of a student in a private school in Gurugram and the rape of a four-year-old by her classmate in Delhi.

"All these instances make us realise that it is not enough to improve students' exam performance. There is a need for a more fundamental re-look at the purpose of education. Many of the perversions we see in society are due to our education system not being able to answer questions of human happiness and fulfilment," Sisodia had said in a note.