All govt colleges in MP to have ‘happiness cells’

Bhopal: In the lecture halls of Madhya Pradesh's govt colleges, students will soon get lessons in a new subject: Not maths or history, but in the art of ‘staying happy'. Madhya Pradesh's ‘happiness department', the country's first such department set up in 2016, has proposed opening dedicated happiness cells in all govt colleges across the state. The cells will tackle the real campus curriculum: Crushing stress, fractured friendships, epic failures and the dark pull of suicidal thoughts that statistics say claim too many bright young lives. Over 300 professors have already been trained in the past three months to conduct weekly sessions to teach students on what real happiness is in life and how to pursue it. Topics that they were taught included ‘laws of life', ‘rules to stay in harmony', ‘prosperity or basic understanding of life'. The happiness department has written to the higher education department for opening the cells in colleges, said Praveen Gangrade, director, Rajya Anand Sansthan, the name for Madhya Pradesh happiness department. "Happiness cell aims to teach students what inner happiness is in today's high-pressure life. It aims to graduate a generation that smiles through storms — not just survives them," he said. The trained faculty will offer weekly sessions till cells are constituted while ‘handholding' support continues online for an hour every Thursday. A happiness survey is also planned once approved. The training of professors each called from different corners of the state would continue in batches of 50 each in Bhopal. They will be further coached by the ‘master trainers' of the department. In July 2016, MP hit national headlines when it became the first state in the country to set up a happiness department. It conducts workshops like Alpviram, designed to promote inner peace, positivity, and self-reflection, and training sessions to sensitise govt employees. Other programmes of the department include Anand Shivir, Anand Club, Anand Utsav and Anand Sabha. A happiness survey to measure the well-being of people in the state is also in the pipeline. Preparations like finalising questionnaires for the survey, training of surveyors have been initiated for it. Officials said, it would be carried out once the govt gives a green signal.