CJI Gogoi proposes introduction of happiness classes in judicial academies

PTI, Jul 31, 2019, 4:24 PM IST

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi proposed on Wednesday the idea of introducing happiness classes across judicial academies in the country on the lines of the curriculum introduced by the Delhi government in its schools.

“As the CJI, I was thinking if we all were to remain happy there will be less disputes. People are so unhappy that there are a huge number of litigations pending which go on for years leaving people further unhappy. If we can teach our youths to be happy and content, there will be reduction in litigations,” Gogoi said.

“It was a brilliant concept to have happiness classes. We can explore the same in our judicial academies as well. I am yet to consult my colleagues, but I am sure we can introduce it across judicial academies after hearing students from the audience share their learnings,” he said.

“This is very important considering India’s ranking on the Happiness Index has dropped to 140, while last year it was at 133. Similar modules have been adopted in 12 other countries,” he added.

The event, which was held at the Talkatora Stadium, marks the culmination of the 15-day-long ‘Happiness Utsav’ being celebrated in Delhi government-run schools.

The “Happiness Curriculum” launched by the Delhi government focuses on holistic education by including meditation, value education and mental exercises in conventional education curriculum. It has been introduced for the students of Nursery to Class 8 in government schools.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and education ministers of seven states participated in the Happiness Education Conference at the Talkatora Stadium.

On Tuesday, education officials from Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry and Nagaland visited some schools to be part of the happiness classes and said they would sign an MoU with the AAP government to explore a similar curriculum in their respective states.