Educational institutions in India are introducing happiness courses to help students improve their overall well-being.
In January 2018, a course titled 'Psychology and the Good Life' at Yale broke all records in the university's 317-year history. Over 1,200 students—one-fourth of the undergraduates—had signed up for the course within a week of registrations opening. Barely a few days after commencement, it became Yale's most popular class ever. It was the promise of a good life that pulled the Yalies in and kept them hooked thereafter, says professor of cognitive science and psychology Laurie Santos, who started the course.
To her, PSYC 157, as it is known on campus, was akin to that one big ticket which would lead students to find and pin down something they had been eagerly pursuing all their lives—happiness. Sensing that "students seemed lost when it came to building emotionally rich and balanced lives," she took to teaching them how to be happy with the help of scientifically validated strategies.
Interestingly, the principles for long-lasting satisfaction that Santos lists, like social connectedness, expression of gratitude, living in the present, daily workout and sufficient sleep, find resonance in the happiness curriculum that the Delhi government launched across all its schools last July. Every morning for 45 minutes, over 1.2 million students in the age group of 5 to 14 take the class. It is an activity-based informal session of storytelling and gratitude expression, followed by five minutes of meditation. The class carries no grade and has no textbooks, tests or homework.
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