Kejriwal greenlights deshbhakti curriculum for Delhi govt schools

Kejriwal had first announced the idea for the curriculum on the eve of Independence Day in 2019. It was envisioned as a curriculum that would instill a feeling of pride and build awareness of responsibilities towards the country.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday gave his approval to the deshbhakti curriculum for all government schools on the eve of the country’s 75th Independence Day.

The CM, who was presented a copy of the curriculum framework by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, said: “The deshbhakti curriculum will help realise the dreams of our freedom fighters and the celebration of Independence Day will cease to be symbolic in schools but will now have a substantive meaning.”

He added: “We kept teaching Physics, Chemistry, Math for 70 years, no one thought of teaching children Deshbhakti. I am delighted that the curriculum will be launched in schools of Delhi to instill patriotism in young minds.”

Sisodia had announced earlier this year that the curriculum would be introduced in government schools from the 2021-22 academic session.

Kejriwal had first announced the idea for the curriculum on the eve of Independence Day in 2019. It was envisioned as a curriculum that would instill a feeling of pride and build awareness of responsibilities towards the country. Deliberations were then held over the past two years with teachers, students, parents, and civil society organisations, after which the Deshbhakti Curriculum Committee submitted the framework. This was approved by the Governing Council of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) on August 6.

The curriculum is targeted towards achieving eight learning outcomes – self-awareness, self-confidence, problem solving, practising constitutional values, pluralism and diversity, environmental sustainability, ethical social behaviour, collaboration, and social and civic responsibility, according to a statement from the government.

It aims to “empower students to face challenges and bring about changes to take the country forward”. Knowledge, values, and behaviour are the key themes of the curriculum. Aspects of Indian democracy and Constitution are a part of the existing curricula, but these are currently limited to being academic subjects that are learnt and tested in exams, the statement added.

Implementation of the curriculum involves classroom discussions and group activities, homework to “engage with the family and community,” and self-reflection. Students will be evaluated through self-assessment, peer assessment and assessment by the teacher.

“Emphasis will be on observing and assessing the development of the values, behaviours and actions of deshbhakti amongst students on an ongoing basis,” said the statement. The curriculum follows the pedagogical guidelines of the National Curriculum Framework, 2005, it added.
The 2021 budget had also laid emphasis on deshbhakti, including the introduction of the curriculum.

“When we started working on the Deshbhakti curriculum two years ago, we did not know how it would be and how it would happen. It is a dynamic and constantly evolving process. We have learnt a lot during its pilot and will continue to learn more with time. We also have to take care of the assessment intricately. While we keep our anecdotal experiences in mind, we have to objectively assess if patriotic feelings are actually being instilled in the minds of our children,” Kejriwal said.

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