With the launch of Happiness Curriculum by His Holiness The Dalai Lama in an event organised by the Education Department of Delhi Government, Delhi Education Revolution has achieved an important milestone. Apart from the technical meaning of the Happiness Curriculum, its message is wider, deeper and louder.
So what is its technical meaning?
It has been stated that the students studying in classes Nursery to 8th in the Delhi Government schools would be taught a lesson of happiness for 45 minutes every day. A team of experts which includes teachers and principals from within the system have developed this curriculum. The task of developing this curriculum also got its support from the organisations working in this field, thus, it could integrate the content with the expertise. There is a provision for the training of the teachers for imparting this curriculum and the rest would unfold when the curriculum would be put for trial in the classrooms.
What is more significant than this technical meaning of Happiness Curriculum is Government’s staunch belief in the education revolution. After 3 years of being in office, the launch of Happiness Curriculum signifies that the Education Revolution is not just a buzzword that has to be spread for mere publicity rather it is something that the Government is quite serious about. The government is committed to do whatever it requires to… for developing an Education system which somewhere promotes the growth of humanity. In Gandhi’s words, “The real objective of good education is to develop the mind and the soul.” Happiness Curriculum would basically try to train the thinking faculty of the students studying in the government schools of Delhi.
To develop this curriculum, stupendous work has been done by a team of 45 teachers during the last couple of months and this truly reflects the government’s immense belief in the ability of the teachers working in the Delhi Government schools. Time and again, the letter of the Education Minister; addressing the teachers, have reflected his faith in the teaching fraternity of these schools. In one of his letters to the teachers, he writes, “Teachers are the pilot of a plane and rest of the people in the department are for the support of the teachers. It’s the teachers who have to fly the plane.” This reflects the sustainability aspect of the Delhi Education Revolution. Sooner or later, the leadership role would be taken by the teachers to take this movement ahead.
The launch of Happiness Curriculum also shows the deep sense of respect for the well-being of the poor and downtrodden section of the society. It is believed that it’s only the rich people who have some sort of possession on ‘happiness’.The introduction of Happiness Curriculum in government schools would somehow break this binary of wealth and happiness. As stated by His Holiness Dalai Lama in the response of a question asked to him, “Yes…In general sense, wealth brings happiness but ultimately it’s the training of mind which brings the long-lasting happiness”. Through our Happiness Curriculum, I hope, we would plunge into a journey of happiness by training the mind and not by accumulating the wealth.
The presence of Dalai Lama at the launch event of the Happiness Curriculum shows the kind of trust the Delhi Education Revolution has gained both at the national and at the international level. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama- A Nobel Laureate for peace, blessed this occasion and validated the vision of the Education Minister that peace in this world can only be ensured through education. On this occasion, in his speech, Dalai Lama remembered the position of India as the Guru of the world and he emphasized that if India wants to become the modern world GURU, it would have to integrate its ancient learnings with the modern education. He further stated that only India can do it. And in India, we have started it in Delhi. I hope that the story of the Delhi Education Revolution would reach to every household in India. I hope for a future where people in every part of this country would start claiming a better education from their respective governments.
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