Value-based Education: A Necessity

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On my way home today, I came across this hoarding by a certain international school which claimed to nurture responsible citizens. I smirked on the words ‘WE BELIEVE IN VALUE-BASED EDUCATION SYSTEM’.

The last decade saw the inexplicable rise of international schools. Each of these schools claims to provide a ‘value-based education system’. But is this type of education system only on paper? Schools are the breeding ground for children to imbibe values, which are essential in making them responsible citizens. It is in the school that a child is supposed to learn to respect his/her parents, help people around him/her and many more values. It is in the school that a child is supposed to be nurtured spiritually. It is in the school that a boy learns to respect women, something which is being talked about extensively, in the wake of the recent discourse on changing mindsets for the betterment of women.

The debate here is not about international schools imparting values to its students, but about any school giving that type of education. 90’s kids will know how life-saving were good marks in mathematics, science, etc. Nonetheless, the scene is changing with importance being given to sports and other extra-curricular activities too.

Values taught in schools will reflect in the citizens of tomorrow. When the present generation learns important values, the future of the country becomes brighter on the moral stand. Ashwinder Kaur, a student of Jamia Millia Islamia, who worked extensively on research on the education systems in different schools, says, “In many schools, subjects like dharm shiksha (religious education) have been introduced. Humanity and respect are values taught in greater measure.” Well, this is a step in the direction of a responsible society.

Talking of my personal experience, my school has given equal weightage to values as other areas of education. Being from a convent school, I still cherish our value education classes. Values were not only taught in these classes, but also in other classes where it may not be in the curriculum of teachers to do so. Contradicting this memory is the way we were pressurised to score well in science and mathematics. The number of tuitions we joined for mathematics coaching (it was touted to be preparing us for IIT entrance and other engineering entrance tests) only stressed us more.

I see a different scenario nowadays, with more room for improvement. Reforms should be put in place for the education system to become more efficient in imparting moral values. Apart from schools, parents also have a duty to teach their children values. And we can put in our own efforts by imparting values to children around us, through our actions, hoping for a better India.