Oxford University Press, the world’s largest university press, has just released the revised edition of the ‘Living in Harmony’ series, its well-known course on Values Education and Life Skills for schools. The updated edition has expanded its range to now include books for classes 9 and 10 from the earlier programme of books for Classes 1 to 8, including lesson plans and free teacher’s manuals in the revised course.
The ‘Living in Harmony’ series addresses the need for value education expressed in the National Curriculum Framework. It aims to help the young learners recognize their responsibilities towards their environment and to instill in them the values that are vital to a meaningful and socially productive life. Our team of six authors have also developed lessons on Gender Sensitivity from classes 1-10 and emphasized Safety for young children. In the higher classes, the series includes sensitive topics, such as sexuality, tensions between social groups, poverty, the two sides of technology, social inequality etc. Each book has a list of 84 values incorporated through stories from history, folk tales, fables, real-life events and world literature. Laying the foundation for a peaceful world is one of the greatest needs as well as a challenge of our times – this series is therefore extremely relevant in that context.
Speaking about the ‘Living in Harmony’ programme, Mini Krishnan, series editor, says, “In these conflicted times, what shall we tell the children in our care? We have to reinvent ourselves in order to guide them. This important series is designed to give our future generations a broader view of life, by fostering values, social awareness and life skills in them. It is important for us to ensure that our children grow into responsible and thoughtful adults; this series for schools is an earnest effort in that direction.”
The book series has been creatively compiled by incorporating examples from current issues and by including activity-based exercises at the end of each chapter. The books in the series also showcase the rich cultural heritage of India with chapters dedicated to traditional music, arts, and dance forms.
Key Features of the course are:
• Peace and value-based stories that lead to discussions and insights that are explained further.
• Stimulating exercises to help children relate peace and values to real-life situations
• Experiential activities that help children improve their cognitive and social skills as they are engaged in analyzing events and creating solutions.
• Centre Folds —a blend of evocative visuals and interesting activities—which are designed to evoke interaction, comments and opinions from children with teachers acting as facilitators
• Teacher’s notes- Available at the end of each book with lesson plans and topics for classroom interaction.
• Wellness pages to combine both emotions and rational thinking.
About Oxford University Press India:
Oxford University Press (OUP) is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.OUP is the world’s largest university press with the widest global presence. It publishes in many countries, in more than 40 languages, and in a variety of formats—print and digital. OUP products cover an extremely broad academic and educational spectrum, and OUP aims to make content available to users in a format that suits them best.
In fulfilling the Press’s objective to further research, scholarship, and education, OUP India today develops path-breaking digital solutions, while continuing to publish approximately 400 new books and revised editions every year. OUP India’s publishing programme covers school courses, higher education texts, academic and reference works, titles of general interest, bilingual dictionaries, atlases, adult ELT materials, and digital and assessment products.
Established in 1912, OUP India has grown to be one of the largest publishers in the region, with a strong presence in India and the neighboring countries, including Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Headquartered at Noida, it has regional offices in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Mumbai.OUP India is committed to the continuous development of its publishing programmes, covering both print and digital, to meet the growing and varying learning needs of students, teachers, scholars, and general readers in the region.
