A big step towards a sustainable society

| | NEW DELHI
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A big step towards a sustainable society

Saturday, 03 July 2021 | Staff Reporter | NEW DELHI

Emphasising the importance of social-emotional learning among students, stakeholders on Friday applauded the Delhi Government’s ‘Happiness Curriculum’, asserting that the course is a massive step towards building a sustainable society.

On the third anniversary of the ‘Happiness Curriculum’ in Delhi Government schools, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Director of the Directorate of Education (DoE), Udit Prakash, students, their families and teachers shared their experience on positive transformation in students.

While many students shared their experience with Sisodia who also holds the portfolio of Education Minister in the AAP Cabinet, families of these students talked about the positive changes they seen in their children due to the course.

“There has been significant change among the children due to the Happiness Classes in just 2-3 years. In the next ten years the children will adopt happiness in their attitude and it will grow to become an important component of their everyday life. These are the real happiness agents and will bring a sea change in society,” Sisodia said.

Aiming to enhance the emotional quotient, the Delhi Government launched the curriculum on July 2, 2018 in the presence of the Dalai Lama.

“It has been successfully running in all the classes from nursery to 8th standard in the Delhi Government schools,” a Government officer said.

In a free-wheeling interaction with their Education Minister, students, parents and teachers narrated their journey of transformation.

Sparsh Aggarwal, a class 7th student at VKSSV, Kalkaji said that she learnt how one should never give up despite persistent challenges.

Another Class 7th student, Rakshit of SCSDSV, Rohini Sector-9, narrated about the changes in his life because of the ‘Happiness Curriculum’. Earlier, he was addicted to mobile games, leading to irritability and pain in his eyes.  But with the practice of mindfulness and other activities, he is now stress-free and has started taking more interest in academics.

Rakshit’s teacher Richa shared that she is using mindfulness activities with her family members, and they have had a positive impact in their lives too.

Gurmeet, who is studying in Class 9th at Bachchan Prasad SKV, Deoli, said that she has been encouraging her family to practice activities she learnt in the Happiness Classes even before the lockdown. As a result, there is a happy atmosphere in the house even during these difficult times of Corona. Gurmeet’s mother said that while earlier her daughter was very fearful and anxious, after taking Happiness Classes, Gurmeet now has a lot of self-confidence.

The principal of Gurmeet’s school says that thanks to Happiness Classes, students have become regular and are more disciplined.

A student of Class 9th in SDSV, Sector-9 Rohini, Prachi shared that she used to get angry earlier but with the Happiness Classes and mindfulness, she has been able to control her anger better.

After his interaction, Sisodia said that lakhs of children have practiced mindfulness and other activities learned in the Happiness Classes in their homes with parents and siblings during the pandemic. This has led to people feeling happier and stress-free even during such difficult times.

Principal Secretary Education H Rajesh Prasad and Udit Prakash Rai, were also present during the interaction. They both emphasised that not only children, but teachers and parents are also getting the benefit of the Happiness Classes.

Sisodia also met an international panel of experts who shared their views about the best global practices on social-emotional learning. He said, “We want to improve the Happiness Curriculum, and we want to learn from the best in the world.”

He shared that Delhi has created a model of Happiness Classes, and education systems across the world can also benefit from this model. The panel comprised of Dr Scherto R Gill, Chair of G20 Interfaith Forum’s education working group, Dr Amit Sen, Director and Co-founder of Children First, Kamal Silwal, CEO of Genius Academy Nepal and Ankit Pogula, member of Cell for Human Values and Transformative Learning.

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