Karnataka Minister of School Education and Literacy, B C Nagesh has issued directions for all school and pre-university colleges to introduce meditation for students. He has sent a note to officials of his department in this regard.
“It is directed to take necessary steps to introduce 10 minutes of meditation for students in schools and pre-university colleges daily, aimed at increasing their concentration, improving health, positive thinking, stress-free learning, personality development, and thereby imbibing good qualities,” Nagesh said in a tweet.
According to the statement, the move is based on a request by the Karnataka State Primary School Teachers’ Association. It stated that some schools already have meditation sessions.
Commenting on the same, Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah said, “I have no objection to introducing meditation in schools, but my question to Nagesh is what should be given priority? On one hand the BJP government in Karnataka is begging parents for the funds and on the other hand it is doing gimmicks to divert the attention from real issues.”
Siddaramaiah further said “from the time he took oath as Education minister, Nagesh has been creating controversies by distorting textbooks, failing to recruit teachers and failing to improve infrastructure.” “He (Nagesh) seems to be confused and so he should immediately take up mediation first,” he tweeted.
Furthermore, urging the government to first immediately recruit the teachers and put all necessary infrastructure in place, Siddaramaiah said, “Recruit teachers who can teach art, music and train students in sports. Priority should be this and not to play with the future of children.”
With inputs from PTI
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