The introduction of Happiness Curriculum in school by the Delhi Government this July seems to be quite effective as the feedback from the schools has been positive. The heads of the government schools provided the feedback in a series of meetings with Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia. Students now have a greater sense of belonging to school according to the majority of feedback. The ‘Happiness Curriculum’ is being taught in all the government schools in the capital.
Some of the other heads of schools stated that now students have greater confidence to participate frequently in discussions and activities. In fact, one head of school stated that he observed less littering on the school premises.
The curriculum is taught for the first 45 minutes at the beginning of the school for class nursery to class VII. It involves lessons on ‘mindfulness’, storytelling and student interaction with teachers, and was launched in July to encourage mental well-being and “human-centric education”.
The new introduction in the school has also helped in increasing attendance as the head of school of a Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya Khera Kalan said that there has been an increase in attendance.
“While this is true of only some classrooms where teachers are conducting classes exceptionally well, there has been an improvement in attendance in some classes of VI, VII and VIII. This is because the teacher-student connect has improved, and last-benchers are also getting integrated. A sense of belonging seems to have developed,” the head of school said.
During the feedback meetings, Manish Sisodia issued some points to heads of the schools which were based on his observations during school visits.
“Some teachers are equating mindfulness with worship. Students are being asked to close their eyes and think of devtas, but this is not mindfulness. It means present with all of your mind. During the storytelling, I also observed that students were being questioned on the content while the emphasis should be on essence. It needs to be about children identifying their sources of happiness and being in touch with their state of mind,” he said.
He even encouraged the heads of schools to attend all happiness classes to observe the mechanism and the manner in which these classes should be conducted.
The Deputy Chief Minister has also directed the heads of double-shift schools to hold joint annual day functions this year.
In a double-shift schools, there is a girls’ school in the morning shift and a boys’ school in the afternoon shift.
“We have ruined society by placing boys and girls in separate schools. Moving towards a fully co-educational system is a longer process, let’s try and remove the boundaries a little by mixing the annual day events of both shifts,” he said.