PETA India’s New ‘Compassionate Citizen’ Programme Is Set to Be Used in Haryana Schools

After PETA India asked Haryana’s Directorate of Education to require that all 8,000 government primary schools use its newly revamped humane education programme, Compassionate Citizen, in their curricula, the government body issued a circular directing them to implement the programme.

Compassionate Citizen, which was developed for students ages 8 to 12, consists of a teacher’s guide, reproducible activity sheets – including a colouring sheet and a kindness pledge that children can sign – a full-colour wall poster, an engaging 23-minute video, and an insert listing easy ways teachers and schools can encourage students to help animals. Endorsed by the Animal Welfare Board of India and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the programme has been voluntarily used by nearly 1.69 lakhs schools – including government, private, international, CBSE-affiliated, and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan institutions – and has reached nearly 60 million children across India.

Compassionate Citizen is PETA India’s version of the internationally recognised humane education programme “Share the World” created by PETA US. Other states and union territories currently using a version of Compassionate Citizen include Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana.

PETA India’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”, and we oppose speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. State schools can download the Compassionate Citizen educational materials and video from the official website of Haryana’s Department of School Education. Free copies of the materials and video can also be requested by writing to PETA India at [email protected].