Redefining Education: The Rise of Happiness Programmes in India
In recent years, educational institutions’ focus has significantly shifted towards holistic development, wellbeing, and happiness among students.
This trend has led to the emergence of a happiness curriculum in various educational institutions to cultivate essential life skills, promote mental and emotional wellbeing, and nurture a positive outlook on life among students.
”In the modern educational landscape, student stress has become a concerning reality, especially in the post-pandemic time where the symptoms of stress, anxiety, negativity, and loss of general wellbeing have surfaced in a big way, and they are the real concerns for the academics. Stress levels are already very high in India and much higher compared with the US, the UK, Germany, France, China, Brazil and Indonesia,” says Dr Prabhat Pankaj, Director, Jaipuria Institute of Management.
Jaipuria Institute of Management is among the few educational institutions in India that has embraced the idea of incorporating a happiness curriculum into its academic programmes.
The advantages of a happiness curriculum are multifaceted. It furnishes students with essential life skills that are often neglected in conventional academic settings. By offering skill-building workshops and self-assessment exercises, the curriculum helps students develop resilience, emotional intelligence, and leadership qualities, which are crucial for their personal and professional growth.
According to Dr Pankaj, the Happiness Curriculum is designed as a skill-building programme, similar to other skill development initiatives such as team building, leadership, resilience, and emotional intelligence. The programme considers happiness as a skill that can be cultivated. There was also a capacity-building programme framed around it that talked about how to increase the capacity of individuals to be happy.
The Happiness Programme at the Jaipuria Institute of Management has three crucial pillars:
Building a perspective: This is accomplished through introductory sessions and workshops on the idea of a happy life. Students are exposed to research-based practices for creating a healthy body and mind and how mind and body are interrelated. The course takes them through an exercise of understanding self and working on the purpose of life.
The second pillar is based on mindful practices such as meditation, yogic practices, alpha-time vibration exercise, day-reconstruction exercise and gratitude practices. These are highly effective and powerful practices that have helped students reduce stress and improve focus, leading to enhanced positive evaluations of life
The third pillar is the use of technology-based interventions. The institute has created a Happiness Laboratory, where an electro-photonic imaging camera captures the energy flow in the body through a scanning process. It produces a report on stress levels and 7-chakra positioning. The calibration software produces a 20-page report, and based on the report, individual counselling sessions are arranged for the students.
Furthermore, the changes that occurred due to learning and practices are analysed and shared with the students.
It is also important to mention that teamwork is an integral part of the corporate world. Therefore, if students cultivate gratitude, empathy, and compassion, they will be better equipped to thrive in an interdependent environment. As the positive impact of the happiness curriculum becomes increasingly evident, it is poised to play a vital role in shaping the future of education and the wellbeing of students across the globe.