Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday announced to introduce a “Deshbhakti Curriculum” in Government schools from the next academic year.
“The move was made with some important goals. First, each child must feel pride in the nation. Second, each child must be made aware of their responsibility towards the country. Third, we have to instill into children the passion to be prepared to sacrifice anything for the nation,” the Delhi CM said.
While speaking at a programme organised by the Directorate of Education at the Thyagaraj Stadium, Kejriwal said, “We have to create a sense of ownership among all children that they have to take on the challenges we are facing as a country head on and address them.”
Highlighting the purpose of introducing this curriculum, he said that ordinarily we are reminded of our love for the country either when there is an India-Pakistan match or when there are tensions on the border.
“In our day-to-day lives we forget about our country. The Deshbhakti Curriculum is being introduced so that each and every citizen of this country truly loves their country,” he added.
Addressing the gathering, he said that our children at any point of time if they accept bribe, they must feel that they are betraying Bharat Mata. “When they jump a traffic light, they must feel they’ve wronged their country. We hear of so many incidents where foreign nationals come to India, they are faced with loot, assault, rape. When we hear stories of Indians returning from Japan, we only hear praise for the Japanese and their hospitality. We have to love our country to the extent that we respect it and respect our guests,” he added.
In a tweet, the Chief Minister stated, “We want our education system to ensure that each child becomes a good human being, is equipped to support their family and becomes a true patriot.” He added in another tweet, “We need inputs from everyone about what kind of course (the Deshbhakti Curriculum) should be.”
“Tomorrow is the 73rd Independence Day. I think this will be the biggest gift to the nation on such a special occasion,” he said in his concluding remarks.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia who was also present at the event said, “I am confident that teachers and Principals of Delhi Government schools will be able to do this. They will be at the forefront of the designing of this curriculum, similar to the way the ‘Happiness and Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculums’ were designed,” he added.
Sisodia further said that he has directed the department to form a cell to drive this and take inputs from people across the country.