Page 20 - EW July 2021 final

Education News

of students is sufficient for admis- piness through narration of motiva-
sion into other schools, parents are tional stories, yoga and mental health
not required to get TCs to admit their advice to rural communities, the de-
children into neighbouring govern- partment was transformed into the
ment schools. “BPS in the state are Spiritual Department by the Kamal
facing a serious crisis. There was Nath-led Congress government which
negligible fees collection in 2020- was voted into office in 2018. Until
21 as many parents didn’t pay fees March 2020, the focus of the Spiritu-
because of financial difficulties and al Department was to promote inter-
others don’t want to pay for virtual communal and religious harmony.
classes. With depleted revenue, we However, when the BJP was voted
can’t pay our teachers. In 2019-20, back to power in Bhopal in 2020 after
we had 60-65 teachers and now that engineering dramatic defections from
number is half,” she says. the Congress, the Happiness Depart-
But while Tamil Nadu’s newly ment with a less secular flavour was
elected DMK government is pulling restored with the mission to uplift
out all the stops to fill up govern- the spirits of the people of the state.
ment schools taking advantage of the In 2020 Aloha, an internationally ac-
Covid pandemic, it’s a moot point if credited happiness programme, was
the public interest is being served. translated into Hindi and incorporat-
With all 37,217 government schools ed into the Happiness programmes.
still shuttered, the only remote Currently, the happiness programme
lessons being provided to their 6.7 is being disseminated in all 53 dis- education institutions — especially in
million children, is through Kalvi TV, tricts of the state by 55,000 unpaid this grim pandemic era — is positive.
the state government-run television volunteers. “The department’s volunteers con-
channel. The learning outcomes of During the past pandemic year, the ducted two programmes for our fac-
children passively learning from one- department has conducted 100,000 ulty spread over February and March
way lectures are worse than before. twice-a-week online happiness pro- this year. The programmes included
Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai) grammes. The programmes are super- an inaugural prayer followed by yoga
vised by the Rajya Anand Sansthan, classes and interactive sessions with
MADHYA PRADESH an autonomous body constituted to volunteers selected by the education
Politics of happiness promote the department’s objectives. ministry narrating motivational sto-
The board members of the Sansthan
ries and providing pandemic man-
are eminent citizens working in the agement advice, group singing and
vidently inspired by the example areas of culture, society, psychology poetry recitations. The happiness
of the neighbouring Kingdom of and academics. programmes conducted online, have
EBhutan which measures nation- “Education was one area that was undoubtedly helped our faculty to de-
al development through a Gross Na- left untouched by the department, so stress, refreshed our spirits and di-
tional Happiness Index (GNHI) and we decided to sensitise education in- verted attention from the pain points
latterly by the Delhi state government stitutions to the need for happiness, of the pandemic. I’m sure once nor-
which introduced happiness classes mental peace and well-being, espe- malcy is restored and the programmes
into the curricula of government cially in the pandemic era. Therefore are conducted on campus, they will be
schools, the Anand Vibhag (Hap- for the past one year, introductory more rewarding,” says Dr. Pratibha
piness Department) of the Madhya programmes have been conducted Singh, principal of the Sarojini Naidu
Pradesh government has succeeded in for school and higher education stu- Govt. Girls Postgrad Autonomous Col-
ameliorating some of the Covid pan- dents in all 53 administrative blocks. lege, Bhopal, which has an aggregate
demic’s gloom and doom pervading Our programmes are not restricted enrolment of 5,629 women students
the country’s geographically second- to government institutions and are mentored by 111 faculty.
largest (308,245 sq. km) state (pop.73 open to all. They are charged a nomi- Although the Happiness Depart-
million) by extending the ambit of the nal amount of Rs.200 as registration ment’s introductory programmes in
Happiness Department to the educa- fees to meet tea-break expenses,” says education institutions have been wel-
tion sector. Akhilesh Argul, chief executive of comed, sceptical academics and op-
First introduced by incumbent the Rajya Anand Sansthan. position parties discern clever design
chief minister Shivraj Chauhan in The initial reaction to the happi- behind this initiative. “It is pertinent
2016 to spread loosely defined hap- ness programmes being introduced in to note this programme is conducted

20 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2021