Over 600 schools in Ahmedabad set to impart Bhagavad Gita lessons as part of morning assembly

Over 600 schools in Ahmedabad district are set to impart audio-visual lessons on Bhagavad Gita in the morning assembly from this week, a report in the The Indian Express said.

The move comes three months after the Gujarat Assembly passed a unanimous resolution to take necessary steps for the effective implementation of the education department's decision to teach Bhagavad Gita in schools.

On Tuesday, Gujarat Education Minister Praful Pansheriya launched the “Vidyarthi Jeevan Pathdarshak Banshe Shreemad Bhagavad Gita” project in Ahmedabad. The Project, which means “Bhagavad Gita will become a guide to student life”, will be part of Classes 6 to 8 curriculum of the state board schools, the publication noted.

In February this year, when introducing the resolution to teach Gita in state schools from Classes 6 to 12, Pansheriya had said that the National Education Policy 2020 lays stress on inculcating a sense of pride and connection to the rich and diverse culture and knowledge systems and traditions of India in students.

According to the latest report, the Ahmedabad District Education Office (Rural) has created audio-visual lessons to implement this and the training for over 3,000 teachers is set to begin this week.

“The Education Department – for the statewide implementation of Bhagavad Gita – has incorporated two chapters in the form of stories as a part of Gujarati first language curriculum from Classes VI till XII for the state board schools while for a separate literature has been prepared for non state board schools,” V R Gosai, Director, Gujarat State School Textbook Board (GSSTB) told The Indian Express.

The lessons on 51 shlokas (verses) of Bhagavad Gita will focus on stress management, food management and character building besides other aspects of the modern lifestyle challenges and the students will also be given behavioural assignments at the end of every lesson, which would help to evaluate their behaviour themselves.

The new academic session at state schools commenced on June 13.