Events & Issues
New
Delhi, 12 November 2012
Moral Education
WILL IT REVIVE VIRTUES?
By Dr S Saraswathi
Former Director, ICSSR, New Delhi)
The new Human Resource Development
Minister, Pallam Raju, is reported to have plans to focus on moral education in
school curriculum to reinforce value systems in the younger generation. This
follows closely the move by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to
look into the possibility of reintroducing moral and value-based education at
the elementary level.
The move was made in the course of
discussions on the problems of ageing population and in recognition of the
positive role that moral education can play in sensitizing children towards the
elderly. The Ministry of SJ&E has invited a delegation from the NCERT to
discuss this in the forthcoming National Conference on Ageing to be held shortly.
The debate on the question of moral
education, going on from time to time, is now resumed in connection with the
task of framing policies and rules concerning empowerment of senior citizens
and the elderly. However, the subject of moral education is not restricted to
any single purpose. It has much wider implications that extend to the whole
gamut of our thoughts and actions.
The possibility of including moral
education as part of elementary education has been under the consideration of
the NCERT also. In fact, the subject
used to be part of elementary schooling. This is practically revival of an idea
that crops up now and then and raises heated debates which unfortunately digress
more on peripheral issues rather than focusing on the need to promote personal
and social morality.
Moral education means different
things to different people. It is often confused with religious instruction
even by knowledgeable people. This confusion underlies the major opposition to
teaching morals in schools. Morals are
common to all religions. They have human values and are intended to inculcate
human virtues.
Moral values transcend geographical,
religious, cultural, and social differences. These are universal. In his State of the Union Message, former US President
Clinton once called upon all schools to give character education, to teach good
values and good citizenship.
Moral values have been emphasized by
philosophers and educationists from the days of Socrates. The very word
“character” is derived from the Greek “charakter” meaning “enduring mark”. It
is contained in the distinguishing qualities of a person or the principles
upheld by a person. Good head, good heart, and good hands indicating good
thinking, sensibility, and good action are the hallmarks of good character.
The Kothari Commission on Education
recommended that comprehensive value education must start at the beginning of
school education. It spelt out the aims of education as imparting knowledge,
skills, balance, vision, and identity.
But, for want of effective faculty and finance, the proposal did not
succeed.
The National Policy on Education
(1986) refers to the growing concern over the erosion of essential values and
increasing cynicism in society and the need to readjust curriculum to make
education a tool for cultivation of social and moral values. Such value
education, the policy states, should help eliminate obscurantism, religious
fanaticism, violence, superstition, and fatalism. Apart from this combative
role, the policy includes certain positive contents based on our heritage,
national goals, and universal perceptions.
The National Youth Policy of 2003
acknowledges the objective of providing appropriate education to youth to
enable them to develop into good citizens of the country. It emphasizes the
need for an educational system to instill in the youth an abiding sense of
patriotism and values oriented towards the unity and integrity of the country.
It calls for elimination of all forms of violence, and adherence to good moral
and ethical values, and respect and reverence for India’s composite culture and
national heritage.
There is no dearth of pious
resolutions and admirable policies. But, what we sadly encounter today is rampant
political and administrative corruption and an exploitative economic system, to
which the educated more than the non-educated are the contributors. Can this
situation be rectified by proper educational system imparting character
education?
The foundation for good conduct and
behaviour must, of course, be laid at home. The first agent of socialization is
the mother and the immediate family. Its place cannot be substituted. Therefore,
the parents must have the necessary ability and knowledge to play their role as
socializing agents. One can commonly come across parents abusing and beating
their children for disobedience particularly in poor and illiterate families.
They hardly realize that their behaviour becomes a role model for the child.
Next comes the teacher in the school
as the custodian for children. It is necessary to start moral education at the
elementary level. For, habits are formed
early in life and such habits govern a good part of later life of an
individual. Moral education should teach what is right and what is wrong, and
should develop a desire in children to be “good” human beings. Honesty, self-control, friendliness,
fairness, respect and caring nature are considered qualities to be fostered.
Traditionally, prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice are counted as
cardinal human virtues. These can be cultivated by only practice.
Social morality requires a democratic
spirit, adherence to rule of law, justice and fair play. Civics and citizenship
education are integral part of moral education.
Both Personal and social morality are
common to all and have no particular religious basis. Critics attempting to
associate value-based education with any religion and then condemning it as
anti-secular must ponder over the rapid degeneration of values in public and
social life right in front of our eyes.
Morality is essential to vibrant democratic politics. “Liberty cannot be established without
morality, nor morality without faith” as Tocqueville asserts.
In the US, character education is
currently in vogue and focuses on development of some virtues. It is believed that increase in juvenile
crimes, sexual promiscuity, problems of suicide, drug and alcohol addiction,
teen-age violence, and such youth problems can be tackled by systematic
character education.
Perhaps growing juvenile problems
demand special remedial courses in the US,
which is not the case with India.
But, India
faces serious credibility crisis in various forms in several places. It needs to
be addressed immediately. Value-based education becomes important in this
context to correct devaluation of virtues. “Intelligence is not enough.
Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of education”, as stated by
Martin Luther King, Jr. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News and Feature Alliance)
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