2 meditation schools planned for UK kids

London, Feb 13 (ANI): Brit kids will be taught transcendental meditation under plans to open two schools specializing in the technique.

Pupils would meditate twice a day for ten minutes at a time in an attempt to increase their creativity and intelligence.

According to the Times Educational Supplement, the plan is being developed by the private Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment, in Ormskirk, Lancashire, the only school in Britain specialising in transcendental meditation.

The schools, funded by the taxpayer, could be opened as part of Labour's flagship academies programme.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families refused to rule out the proposals, saying the academies scheme 'allows for a diverse range of schools, each with its own ethos'.

A representative said that the plan would be judged on its educational merits.

However, the move has been slammed amid claims ministers should be focused on conventional teaching methods.

"The Government must be desperate to even consider this. The Secretary of State could clearly do with some transcendental meditation himself," the Telegraph quoted Chris Woodhead, former head of Ofsted, who now runs a chain of private schools, as saying. (ANI)