Agartala: Tripura government launched a comprehensive co-curricular program SAHARSA (self-gratification) for the social and emotional learning of students up to Class VIII to scale up their knowledge beyond the syllabus – the first in the Northeast region.
The education minister Ratan Lal Nath on Thursday said that the state government has already introduced the CBSE syllabus in the schools and implemented all the teachers’ training modules to improve the academic landscape of Tripura, which began yielding fruits in the last two years.
However, the government felt the need of nourishing the students at a tender stage to inculcate their sense of social commitment and responsibility along with their emotions to make them better citizens, Nath said.
“The students have to be responsible towards society even after obtaining degrees and certificates, which needs to be nurtured at the primary level. Considering the need for the hours, the Tripura government introduced an additional curriculum SAHARSA for the students enrolled between Class I and VIII,” Nath attributed.
The aim of the program is to prepare students not to fear examinations; they should take part in the examinations with the same enthusiasm they show during the Durga Puja celebration and make sure that children are always smiling while enjoying the syllabus, the minister stated.
Initially, SAHARSA has been launched as a pilot project in 40 schools in the eight districts, which is targeted to be introduced in all schools on the occasion of Children’s Day this year on November 14.
Director of School Education Chandni Chandran pointed out that if we look at the public education system, there is always a hierarchy that rich children go to the private schools and poor students come to government schools although Tripura is one of the states with the highest number of children studying in government schools.
“Our children should have social and emotional learning. Their background, difficulties, social and economic conditions of the children should be taken into account whenever we are making them emotionally and socially secure,” she said, adding that the program would help the overall development of the children.
