Time to push children's wellbeing into domains of learning: Sisodia

NEW DELHI: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday said it was time to push the overall wellbeing of children into domains of learning and mainstream educational subjects.

Speaking at the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference on mental health and socio-emotional learning, Sisodia emphasised on the impact of teaching children to be mindful and resilient for their overall wellbeing. "I believe that wellbeing needs to be made as a mainstream subject in education. One of the initiatives we have taken, to develop resilient children, is the entrepreneurship mindset curriculum. Irrespective of what children pursue, we want our students to think like an entrepreneur -- willing to dream big, try new and challenging goals, be able to recognise opportunities around, and then plan and execute to bring them to fruition," he said.

He added that through the "happiness curriculum" of the Delhi government, they have been able to "encourage our ecosystems to think about long-term approaches to mental health". "The objective of our happiness curriculum has been to develop self-awareness and mindfulness, inculcate skills of critical thinking and inquiry, enable learners to communicate effectively and help children to apply life skills to deal with stressful and conflicting situations around them. Almost 3-4 lakh students who practised mindfulness and different activities helped their homes to be strong and emotionally sound," the minister said.

The Harvard Social Enterprise Conference has brought together top leaders, practitioners and students to engage in a virtual dialogue, debate, and expression around social enterprise. The theme for this year's conference was “Resilience and Reckoning” with “Innovations in Mental Health” as the agenda for this panel discussion.