'Happiness curriculum' just days away from launch

NEW DELHI: Delhi government schools are preparing to launch the 'happiness curriculum', as the Delhi government is training its teachers on how to teach students as per the curriculum and has started ad campaigns on radio and TV to promote it.

"We are giving training to teachers on how to handle this special curriculum," said an official of the Education department of Delhi government.

He added that as this curriculum is very different from the regular ones, the department is focusing on making teachers understand that students should not feel burdened and never feel that their holidays are getting ruined.

"Our target is to make students happy and make them more active. We believe that teaching mainly happens outside the classroom and this is exactly why we introduced this," said the official.

As statistics stand today, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are over 300 million people worldwide who suffer from depression. "Barriers to effective care include a lack of resources, lack of trained health-care providers, and social stigma associated with mental disorders," the WHO website says.

"At its worst, depression can lead to suicide. Close to 8,00,000 people die of suicide every year. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in 15-29 year-olds," it adds.

In India, since 2014, over 26,000 students have killed themselves, roughly amounting to a student taking his or her life every hour. According to a 2012 Lancet report, India has one of the world's highest suicide rates for youth aged 15 to 29, with Maharashtra, Sikkim and West Bengal reporting the most student suicides.

Various studies, reports and their outcomes were studied by the Delhi government before forming the curriculum – a brainchild of Atishi Marlena, the former education advisor to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

A day after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Cabinet colleagues ended their sit-in protest at the Lieutenant Governor's office, the Aam Aadmi Party-led dispensation on Wednesday announced introduction of the 'happiness curriculum' in Delhi government schools from the coming academic session.

"The 'happiness curriculum' is ready and it will be launched by the Dalai Lama on July 2. It will be taught to around eight lakh students from nursery up to Class VIII," Sisodia had said.

The final draft of the curriculum was approved at a meeting chaired by Sisodia, who is also the Education Minister in the Kejriwal government.