Kejriwal Govt’s new I-day resolve; will now teach ”Deshbhakti” to students

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal now seems to be in a mission mode to inculcate in students fervour of Deshbhakti (patriotism) which, according to him, had so far been missing from the curriculum.

On the eve of the 75th Independence Day, the Chief Minister has rolled out a new curriculum to achieve the purpose. ”The Deshbhakti Curriculum is in line with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s vision of helping students become true patriots,” an official statement said here.

The Chief Minister, after being presented with a copy of the curriculum by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, said that in 70 years every possible subject was taught in schools but no one taught Deshbhakti. ”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 said.

“When we started working on the Deshbhakti Curriculum 2 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

“We kept on teaching Physics, Chemistry, Maths for 70 years, no one thought of teaching children Deshbhakti. I am delighted that the Deshbhakti Curriculum will be launched in schools of Delhi to instil patriotism in young minds,” The CM added.

The Chief Minister also took to Twitter to announce the same and said, “The Deshbhakti Curriculum is all set to be implemented in Delhi schools on the 75th anniversary of Independence. Love and Patriotism towards the country will help youngsters build India as our freedom fighters aspired it to be.

Congratulations to all the parents, kids and team education.”

The Deshbhakti Curriculum Framework aims to develop a deep sense of respect towards the Constitutional values and seeks to bridge the gap between values and action. The curriculum follows the pedagogical guidelines of the National Curriculum Framework 2005, and focuses on child-centered and critical pedagogies and ideas of National Curriculum Framework 2020, the Delhi Government statement said.

The framework acknowledges that while students’ learn various aspects of Indian democracy and Constitution as part of their existing curricula; these are currently limited to being academic subjects to be learnt and tested in exams. There is very little scope to relate values such as equality and fraternity to their daily lives. The Deshbhakti Curriculum seeks to build a deeper understanding of these values and make it part of children’s behavior. Therefore, the stress is also on connecting to children’s lives outside of school.

It aims to develop among students’ self-confidence, awareness, respect for constitutional values, and a problem solving mindset, and empower them to face challenges and bring about changes to take the country forward. The three overarching themes of the Deshbhakti Curriculum are: Knowledge- of constitutional values, plurality and diversity, freedom struggle, achievements, social problems, etc Values- of honesty, integrity, humility, empathy, love and respect for country, compassion, sacrifice, etc
Behavior- standing up against injustice, scientific reasoning and mindset, civic responsibility, etc.

–INDIA NEWS STREAM