There may be many things wrong with governance in general in Meghalaya with a spill-over effect but positive developments ought to be acknowledged. The national media reported the presence of Meghalaya’s Education Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui at a school in Delhi along with the Education Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia on July 17 last. Mr Rymbui’s visit to the Delhi Government run school – Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya was to experience a Happiness class session and to interact with the students there. Rymbui wishes to replicate the initiative in Meghalaya since he believes that finding Happiness lies not in the material but in making education more conscious and meaningful through cooperation and collaboration. Happiness itself is an intangible element that relates to a child’s feelings hence it would be difficult to measure it in educational outcomes. But perhaps one measurable entity is whether children enjoy their classes or see it as a drudgery that robs them of their Happiness by pushing them into a dog eat dog competitive world. Perhaps the Happiness Class intends to make students search their souls and introspect as to whether instant gratification is preferable to lasting happiness.
The educational curriculum today is loaded with what must be learnt to be on top of the class and parents have become so over-ambitious that they too must understand what makes their kids happy. Is pushing the child beyond his/her ability not creating conditions for unhappiness? Is conformity to a curriculum that is not suited to a child’s temperament not the reason why so many young people take their own lives in the IITs and IIMs of this country? Why are students unable to accept failure and take it as an opportunity to try better the next time? It’s because they are conditioned to believe that their parent’s love is conditional to their doing well in the examinations. This must put our young kids under so much stress and depriving them of the joys of learning and of Happiness which is their due. Hence while crafting out a Happiness Curriculum is an imperative, transferring some of that learning to parents would also be very helpful because while children may be practicing happiness and contentment in school, by evening they are back to the grind where parents expect them to be toppers. Most parents have already imagined a future for their kids and neatly defined how that future should be without understanding the child’s aptitude. The need to fit into a mould is what is taking away the Happiness out of Education today. What we need is a more creative curriculum that does not put the child in a trap but leaves him free to learn from life experiences. Indeed experiential learning is the key to all educational pursuits.