This sample contains four complete PSR sessions for grades 6 to 8, one for each of four foundations of goodness. PSR, Personal Social Responsibility, is the Goodness Curriculum: learning that runs from school through university, built on the five foundations, so that young people do not only learn about values but practise them.
The five foundations
| Foundation | What it means |
|---|---|
| Integrity | Doing what is right with honesty, fairness and moral courage, even when it is difficult or nobody is watching. |
| Responsibility | Taking ownership of our actions, fulfilling our duties and contributing to family, community and society. |
| Compassion | Understanding and caring for others through kindness, empathy, inclusion and a willingness to help. |
| Respect | Recognising the dignity of others and respecting differences, relationships, institutions, laws and shared spaces. |
| Stewardship | Using resources responsibly and caring for society, nature and the planet for future generations. |
Session 1 · Integrity: The ₹240 that was not charged
Students meet a bill that is short in their favour and work out, in pairs, what they would actually do, and then what they would want done to them.
Run of the session (40 minutes)
- Read the situation aloud; no discussion for 60 seconds.
- Each student writes privately what they would actually do.
- Slips are pooled and read anonymously; the class sorts them into columns.
- The teacher introduces the difference between being caught and being consistent.
- Task for the week: correct one small thing that fell in your favour.
What the session is for
Students can state the difference between an honest act and an unobserved act, and can name one of their own.
Session 2 · Responsibility: The streetlight nobody reports
A fault in shared space that everyone sees and nobody owns. The session ends with a real report filed.
Run of the session (40 minutes)
- List faults the class walks past every day; keep the list on the board.
- Vote on one that can genuinely be fixed this month.
- Find the responsible authority together: a municipal app, the ward office or the school office.
- File the report in class, on one phone, with the class watching.
- Track the outcome for four weeks on the noticeboard.
What the session is for
Students have filed one civic report and can explain who is responsible for a shared fault and how to reach them.
Session 3 · Compassion: The person who eats alone
Attention as a skill: noticing who is at the edge of a room, and what it takes to cross it.
Run of the session (40 minutes)
- Silent observation in the previous week's break: who was alone?
- No names are ever said aloud; counts only.
- Discuss why noticing is harder than caring.
- Role-play the first thirty seconds of an invitation, twice, swapping roles.
- Task: one invitation this week to someone outside your group.
What the session is for
Students can describe the difference between pity and inclusion, and have made one specific invitation.
Session 4 · Stewardship: The wrapper and the empty room
Two small habits, waste and energy, measured in the school itself for a week.
Run of the session (40 minutes)
- Groups check one corridor, one classroom and the grounds for a week.
- Record counts only: bins, wrappers, and lights and fans left on in empty rooms.
- Plot the numbers; predict next week's after one change.
- Make the change the class chooses; measure again.
- Present the two weeks to another class in five minutes.
What the session is for
Students have produced a before-and-after measurement of their own behaviour in a shared space.
PSR at university
In October 2026 IIT Hyderabad introduced Goodness: Character, Responsibility and Human Flourishing (LA2270), a one-credit elective proposed by the Institute of Goodness and taught by Ravi Sharma, across seven sessions that include Personal Social Responsibility.
Bringing PSR to your school
Schools and colleges that would like to pilot PSR can register their interest at instituteofgoodness.org/psr.html#pilot.
