Happiness curriculum in Delhi schools improved relationships: Report

NEW DELHI: A report by a globally renowned research institute on the impact of 'Happiness Curriculum' in Delhi schools has noted that these classes have shown improvements in relationships both inside and outside the classrooms, the Delhi government said on Wednesday. The report by Brookings Institute has pointed out that students are more reflective with their peers and more insightful in understanding home dynamics, according to an official statement by Delhi government.

Happiness Curriculum was started in July 2018 with a vision to strengthen the foundations of happiness and well-being for all students through a 35-minute class conducted every day for all student in kindergarten to Class 8 across 1,030 government schools in Delhi.

"Knowing if you are happy from within or not is very important because when your actions are driven from this state of happiness nothing seems to be a burden. Brookings team conducted student and teacher interviews and surveys to understand the impact of Happiness curriculum on overall well-being of students and teachers," the statement quoting Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.

The report has been co-authored by Esther Care and Aynur Gul Sahin from Brookings and Vishal Talreja and Sreehari Ravindranath from Dream A Dream.

"Students are more reflective about small arguments with their peers, and more insightful in understanding home dynamics. School leaders, teachers and students all express enthusiasm for the philosophy and internalisation of Happiness Curriculum in classrooms.

"At its heart, the happiness curriculum is designed to ensure that the well-being of students and their teachers is front and center in learning and thriving. Happiness Curriculum is envisaged to create a model of improving happiness and well-being through the school education system, which can then be replicated across different systems, nationally and internationally," Sisodia said.

Brookings study mentions that moving education systems towards more holistic outcomes like happiness has begun and it is just a matter of time before we can learn to evaluate them effectively to support all our students to thrive in this new, fast-changing world, the statement said.

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