The Delhi Government will be introducing a 10-month long campaign for students from Class VI to XII, engaging them to inculcate constitutional values. The Programme will start from July 1, 2019, in all Govt. and private schools of Delhi.
The Students will be taught centrally decided monthly themes relating to the Constitution in one social science or political science class a week, and dedicate half a day every month to activities such as panel discussions and presentations on the same theme.
“I want all teachers to initiate discussions to understand what the ultimate goal of learning science and maths is — why the Preamble is relevant to all these subjects. The children need to understand their subjects and learning about the larger goals of the country, and what they need to serve it,” said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
With the statements recorded by the teachers and students as civics curriculum to be ‘boring’ and ‘irrelevant’ and ‘not practical’, this campaign was needed to be introduced.
“This signals a crisis. On one hand, we have students coming out of schools uninspired and ill-equipped to understand civic issues. On the other hand, communities face governance and development issues that could be addressed only through citizen engagement,” read the statement.
Tania Joshi, principal of The Indian School pointed out that how topics come alive in civics and political science for students depends entirely on teachers: “The relationship that students build with subjects… rests on the kind of examples and connections drawn by teachers. This intervention by the government will be welcome though, as I consider political science to be the most important subject.”