Karnataka schools, pre-university colleges to have daily meditation sessions

Bengaluru, Nov 04: Karnataka Minister of School Education and Literacy B C Nagesh on Thursday said he has issued directions for meditation to be introduced for school and pre-university college students. He has also 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 today with the note.

According to the note, the move was based on a request by the Karnataka State Primary School Teachers' Association. It stated that some schools already have meditation sessions.

Reacting to the order, 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."

Noting that 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, in a series of tweets, the Congress leader said, "He (Nagesh) seems to be confused and so he should immediately take up mediation first."

Urging the government to first immediately recruit the teachers and put all necessary infrastructure in place, Siddaramaiah further 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."