Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Value Education

The value education is not a new concept. It is recommended by Sri. Prakash, Dr.Mudolia Azad, Dr. Kothari, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Radha Krishnan, etc.

Education not only develops morality but also makes an individual capable for leadership and or intelligent fellowship. Regarding the need of introducing religious values. Peters (1979, p.473[1]) writes that the religious values are “prosecuted and severely censored in totalitarian or collectivist societies”. He further mentions that education demands the development of various types of awareness, abilities and skills. An individual in a democratic set up should be given some form of initiative to inculcate religious values in the hope that he may develop them. Peters (1973, p. 473)[2] mentions that in “democracy liberal view of the role of religious values is taken because of the importance ascribed to freedom and tolerance and because reductions in transmitting cultural heritage. But certainly religious values are not distinctive of the democratic way of life”. From these central values the aims of education are generated, i.e. morality, knowledge and understanding of human condition, self-fulfillment of the individual, preparation of work, etc.

Dr. C. M. Yogi, Founder - Society for Value Education (SVE) has nicely compared Education with the Value-Based-Education in his paper presented in a Workshop organized by Save The Children and Curriculum Development Centre on 29th December, 2009 as follows:[3]

Education
Value Based Education
opens up our mind
gives us purity of heart too
provides us with skills
provides us sincerity too
extends our relationship with the world
links us with our own family members too
makes our living better
makes our life better too
teaches us to compete with others
encourages us to be complete too
makes us a good professional
makes us a whole human too
takes us to the top
takes the whole society to the top
gives us capacity of better learning
gives us the tool for a deeper understanding too
gives us Anna
provides us Ananda too
may bring limitations
is for liberation

After all right education means- "Sa VidyaYaVimuktaye”. It means, “that is knowledge which liberates.” In one of the post in this blog I have explained elaborately about its meaning. Actually this is my favorite saying in Sanskrit which I quote everywhere. The education which we are imparting nowadays doesn’t fit at all in this definition of Vidya. As the vidya in this saying, connotes very high meaning, spiritual meaning.




[1] Peters – 1979
[2] Peters, 1973
[3] Dr. C. M. Yogi -Founder - Society for Value Education (SVE) has nicely compared Education with the Value-Based-Education in his paper