Neglected issues
D.S. Cheema

Values & Ethics in School Education
by MM Luther. Tata Mcgraw Hill. Pages 436. Rs 350.

INDIA as a nation may have innumerable problems, but all these are directly related to the quality of its human resources. Great stress is laid on the fact that education is a potent instrument of social change.

Education is, perhaps, the most crucial factor in today’s knowledge economy. The centrality of education for economic progress and better governance is, therefore, obvious. As a matter of fact, all of India’s present problems of population and poverty can be traced to the failure of a meticulously planned primary education policy during the 1950’s. Education should be value - based so that a student learns and develops certain traits which make him a useful member of the society. This must be done during the formative years of a child’s life in school.

In Values and Ethics in School Education, Luther attempts to provide a blueprint of what needs to be done in the school education. The author laments the present state of school education in the modern society. He talks about the mass media having become a very important informal agency in imparting education. In the author’s view, movies and TV are just dishing out mindless entertainment to children. The author then moves on to explain the trends in school education. All Five-Year Plans right from the first in 1951, referred to value orientation of education in one form or the other. But it has remained only on paper, mainly due to ambiguity in the definition of values and their relationship with various aspects of a student’s personality. In this regard, the rural primary and secondary schools are the ones which suffer the most. Commercialisation of school education has taken its toll and in high-fee schools it is fashionable to talk about the ‘personality development’ of the children where the schools lay emphasis on communication skills and etiquette and manners. Rural schools children do not get even that advantage.

The author distinguishes between, information, knowledge and wisdom. Perhaps, it is not difficult to store up in the mind a vast quantity of facts within a comparatively short time but converting this knowledge into wisdom is more difficult. Any knowledge, which does not make a student a well-integrated human being by developing him physically, intellectually and spiritually is useless. Our educated youths have suffered intellectually and emotionally on alienation from their motherland, village, community and the nation. In fact, the education system that independent India inherited from the alien rulers was closely observed, studied and analysed by Gandhiji. He gave a new insight in developing a system of education that would respond to the requirements of free India. India, however, persisted with the alien model of education, which lacked any emphasis on values and ethics. There is a definite need to focus on heritage, values, awareness of religions and socio-cultural and economic context. It is essential to ensure social cohesion, removal of obscurantism and provide opportunities for the inculcation of sublime human qualities. The author provides the five basic core universal human values representing the quintessence of the Eastern and Western ethics, consistent with secularism i.e. truth, righteous conduct, peace, love and non-violence.

The author provides a pragmatic solution to the problem of implementing activities and programmes of value education. Many of these have been in practice in some school without the right process and involvement. Certain mass activities like morning assembly, morning prayers, observing national and international days and festivals in an appropriate manner, story telling, music and group singing, sports,dramatics, exhibitions and social work can leave lasting impression on the young minds. Unfortunately, pressure of syllabus and performance in examination leaves no time for the teachers and students to take these activities seriously and they remain mere rituals in most of the schools.

Luther has devoted one chapter to child development where he has discussed the impact of the school days on the personality development of a student who spends a major part of his day in the school. The school provides the right environment for him to develop the qualities of truth, empathy, courage, righteous conduct, ability to question etc. Spiritual education, yoga, meditation and performance, have also been given the required importance in the book. And then there are two chapters on the crucial factors like the role of a teacher and the parents into the development of a child with values and ethics. Some interesting and extremely helpful case studies of schools and institutions show the way to others that it is possible to inculcate values and ethics in the students if they want.

The book provides a wealth of information on a relatively unexplored issue of values and ethics in school education. A book no educationist, teacher, student or the education policy maker can afford to miss. The author has done a great serve to the society by bringing the vital aspects of values and ethics in schools at the centre stage. One only hopes that it makes some difference to the deaf and dumb system.

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