“Modern education was only inculcating materialistic values which was not sufficient,” said the Dalai Lama at the launch of government’s Happiness Curriculum on Monday at Thyagraj Stadium.
There is a need to combine it with ancient Indian knowledge to provide moral education not based on religion but common sense and scientific finding, he further said.
Chief Minster Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia were also present at the event.
Healthy mind
The Dalai Lama also stressed on the importance of education to create a healthy mind that can deal with an emotional crisis and negative emotions.
Mr. Kerjiwal said the launch of the new curriculum was the next phase in Delhi's “education revolution”.
“In the first phase, we did a lot to improve infrastructure and teacher training and cleanliness. Now, our top priority will be implement the ‘happiness curriculum’ in the schools in an effective manner to produce happy, creative and brilliant students, who will be able to counter evils like corruption, terrorism and to make the world a better place to live in,” he said.
Many degrees, no jobs
He further said that there was a need to overhaul the entire curriculum in the country as the youth had a collection of degrees but no jobs.
“The country was carrying on with the education system started by the British 150 years ago that encouraged rote learning and aimed at producing people fit only to do clerical jobs,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
“The Centre and all the State governments need to dedicate one year to overhaul education on a war footing,” the Chief Minister said.
The Happiness Curriculum when introduced in schools after teachers are trained calls for a 45 minute class everyday for students from nursery to class eight dedicated to teaching “happiness”.
Mr. Sisodia said that each class would start and end with five minute of meditation and believed that if 10 lakh students and around 50,000 teachers followed implemented the curriculum properly, several modern day problems could be solved and students would be able to ensure fullest development in society.
The Happiness Curriculum was curated by a team of 40 educationalists, experts and volunteers over a period of six months.