DU college, ICPR join hands to hold conference on teaching Philosophy in schools

Leading philosophers, educationists and schoolteachers will gather at a Delhi University college for a two-day conference to discuss the challenges and advantages of teaching Philosophy in schools across the country.
The conference — Teaching Philosophy at School Level: Problems and Prospects — will be organised on November 19-20 at Mata Sundri College for Women in collaboration with the Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR).
The speakers include Prof Sundar Sarukkai, founder of the Barefoot Philosophers Initiative, Prof Kapil Kapoor, Prof Arindam Chakrabarti, Prof Bhagat Oinam, and school educators from Coimbatore, the college said in a statement.
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They will share their experiences on how Philosophy can be integrated into school education, it said.
“This conference represents a significant step toward integrating Philosophy into school education, fostering a culture of critical thinking, and establishing a strong foundation for the discipline,” Prof. Harpreet Kaur, Principal of Mata Sundri College, said.
The conference aims to explore the potential benefits, challenges, and prospects of introducing Philosophy as a subject in school curricula across the country.
“There are many social science subjects like History, Geography, and Political Science (taught as civics at school level) that are taught from early school days, that is class 3 or even class 2 onwards.
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“There is, therefore, an inbuilt familiarity, exposure and comfort level with these disciplines when they are taken up for higher studies in colleges and universities,” Dr. Garima Mani Tripathi, Associate Professor in the college, said.
The key conference themes include understanding Philosophy as a discipline, methodologies for teaching Philosophy to young students, and practical tools to make the subject accessible.
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The conference’s goals also include building a consensus on the need to elevate the profile of Philosophy in schools, making it as familiar and accessible as other social sciences, such as History and Political Science.