What does true happiness entail? Students in Madhya Pradesh are all set to find out, as the state government gears up to introduce the ‘Happiness Curriculum’ for Classes 9-12 in the upcoming academic session.
The state’s Rajya Anand Sansthan (Happiness Department) chief Satya Prakash Arya told : “This initiative aims to foster emotional well-being, ethical thinking, and holistic living among students. We ran this project on a pilot basis the last two years in 450 schools and now plan on implementing it around 9,000 schools”.
The curriculum, accessed by The Indian Express, draws heavily on a framework that emphasises understanding happiness beyond material success, developing self-awareness, and cultivating harmony in relationships with oneself, family, society, and nature through activity-based learning.
The Happiness Curriculum for Class 9 comprises 11 chapters and begins with an exploration of happiness as a holistic experience, using storytelling, group discussions, and reflection to teach students that happiness transcends material aspects and requires ethical thinking for holistic living. The curriculum also focuses on self-awareness, encouraging students to observe their thoughts, feelings, and actions through introspection and group activities to achieve clarity and alignment in their behaviour.
For Class 10, the curriculum includes 11 chapters, of which some of the notable inclusions are on self-awareness to deepen understanding, guiding students to observe their thoughts, desires, feelings, and actions through introspection. It also addresses the misconception of viewing humans as merely physical, teaching that true harmony requires fulfilling both the self’s and body’s needs appropriately.
The Class 11 curriculum, including 11 core chapters, introduces harmony in family relationships, focusing on values like love, care, and gratitude. It also contains chapters that “deepens the understanding of happiness and prosperity”, critiquing misconceptions (e.g., happiness from material facilities or others’ approval).
The Class 12 curriculum contains 16 chapters that introduces nature as a collection of conscious and material units, categorised into four orders (material, plant, animal, human), with the first three being complementary to humans. The chapters explore “existence as coexistence, teaching that all units are immersed in space, inherently harmonious, and interconnected”.
The curriculum will be mandatory for all streams in Classes 9 to 12, with no formal examinations, focusing on process-oriented learning through activities like mindfulness exercises, reflective storytelling, and group discussions.
Explaining the course work, Arya said: “It teaches students that happiness is not just about resource gathering or achieving milestones. All paths—whether academic, personal, or professional—lead to happiness. We want students to understand that happiness is the ultimate goal.”
The course, she said, was designed to address four key dimensions: self, family, society, and nature. Students are guided to explore their inner selves, understanding that they are more than just their physical bodies—they are a tapestry of emotions, thoughts, and aspirations, she said.
“We teach gratitude, health, and self-realisation,” Arya noted. “We help students see that happiness comes from within, not from external achievements alone.”
Students, according to officials, have displayed noticeable behavioural changes. “Discipline, participation, and overall focus have improved,” Arya said. “Attendance has gone up, and students have started enjoying the course. Parents have told us that their children are helping out at home more and sibling rivalry has reduced. These are early signs, but they’re promising.”
The pilot phase wasn’t without challenges. Integrating a new subject into an already packed school syllabus was no small feat. “Coordinating with teachers and preparing them to deliver this curriculum was difficult,” Arya admitted. “Their focus is often on finishing the academic syllabus and preparing for exams. But we utilized summer vacations to train them, and once they understood the course, their effective teaching time improved.”
To scale the programme, the state is investing heavily in teacher training. In May 2025, 14 workshops will train 3,000 teachers, with a goal to prepare 4,000 educators to lead Anand Classes (happiness periods) in government schools.
