Importance of Moral Education

Youngsters today go through a brutal education system that goes on almost unendingly. Right from when parents send them to kindergarten at a tender age of 4 or 5 to completing their graduation, there is a constant barrage of information hurled at them. It is a puzzling task to make sense of this vast amount of unstructured information. On top of that, the bar to perform better than peers and meet expectations is set at a quite high level. This makes a youngster lose their curiosity and creativity under the burden. They know ‘how’ to do something but fail to answer the ‘why’. They spend their whole childhood and young age without discovering the real meaning of education. This is where the importance of value education should be established in their life.

What is Value Education?

Value-based education lays emphasis on the personality’s development of individuals in order to shape their future and tackle difficult situations with ease. It molds the children so they get attuned to changing scenarios while handling their social, moral, and democratic duties efficiently.

  1. Teaches mannerism develops a sense of brotherhood
  2. Develops physical and emotional aspects
  3. Instils spirit of patriotism
  4. Develops religious tolerance

Need & Importance of Value Education in 21st Century

Value education should not be seen as a separate discipline but as something that should be inherent in the education system. Merely solving problems must not be the aim, the clear reason and motivation behind must also be thought of. There are multiple facets to understanding the importance of value education. Here are the major pointers that exhibit the need and importance of value education in the 21st century:

1) It helps in taking the right decisions in difficult situations thus improving decision-making ability.

2) With age comes a wide range of responsibilities. This can at times develop a sense of meaninglessness and can lead to a rise in mental health disorders, mid-career crisis, and growing discontent with one’s life. Value education aims to somewhat fill the void in people’s lives.

3) Value education also plays a significant role in awakening curiosity and developing values and interests. This further helps in skill development.

4) Moreover, when people study the significance of values in society and their lives, they are more convinced and committed to their goals and passions. This leads to the development of awareness which results in thoughtful and fulfilling decisions. 

5) The key importance of value education gets highlighted in distinguishing the execution of the act and the significance of its value. It instills a sense of ‘meaning’ behind what one is supposed to do and thus aids in personality development.

Objectives of Value Education

In the contemporary world, The importance of value education is multi-fold. It becomes crucial that is included in a child’s schooling journey and even after that to ensure that they imbibe moral values as well as ethics. Here are the key objectives of value education:

1) To ensure a holistic approach to a child’s personality development in terms of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects

2) Inculcation of patriotic spirit as well as the values of a good citizen

3) Helping students understand the importance of brotherhood at social national and international levels

4) Developing good manners and responsibility and cooperativeness

5) Promoting the spirit of curiosity and inquisitiveness towards the orthodox norms

6) Teaching students about how to make sound decisions on the basis of moral principles

7) Promoting a democratic way of thinking and living

8) Imparting students with the significance of tolerance and respect towards different cultures and religious faiths


Importance of Value Education in school Curriculums

There is an essential need and importance of value education in school curriculums as it helps students learn the basic fundamental morals they need to become good citizens as well as human beings. Here are the reasons why value education in school is important:

1) Value education can play a significant role in shaping their future and helping them find their right purpose in life.

2) Since school paves the foundation for every child’s learning, adding value-based education to school the curriculum can help them learn the most important values right from the start of their academic journey.

3) Value education as a discipline in school can also be focused more on learning human values rather than mugging up concepts, formulas, and theories for higher scores. Thus, using storytelling in value, education can also help students learn the essentials of human values.

4) Education will surely be incomplete if it didn’t involve the study of human values that can help every child become a kinder, compassionate and empathetic individual thus nurturing emotional intelligence in every child.

Methods of imparting ValueEducation

There is no way in which children can avoid catching values and attitudes from their teachers. Values education in schools, therefore, is affected through direct, indirect, incidental methods. Values get transmitted via both the implicit or hidden and planned curriculum.

The following methods and techniques may be suggested.

Classroom learning activities methods/approach

These strategies should be used with any of the following sources of value education (a) Biographies (b) Stories (c) Extracts from essays, articles, classics, and newspaper (d) Parables, proverbs, quotations and poems (e) value/moral dilemmas (f) classroom incidents/anecdotes/ conflicts.

Practical activities method

The essence of the practical approach is that they provide the learners with suitable opportunities to practice and live their lives according to the principles and values they have perceived and understood. A sound program of value education may include a combination of a few or all activities mentioned below-

(a) School campus/classroom maintenance activities 

(b) Social forestry/community development activities 

(c) Work experience related activities 

(d) Organizing campaigns on community sanitation, literacy, environmental awareness, AIDS prevention awareness 

(e) Yoga, meditation, and prayer sessions 

(f) eradication of social evils campaign activities (gender inequality, dowry, alcoholism...) 

(g) co-curricular/self-government activities

Socialized techniques and activities

A variety of group-oriented techniques may be used in value education. The effectiveness of the social experiences planned to promote healthy development among children could be increased with a better understanding of social role-playing.

Incidental learning method

An incident is an episode or experience in the life of an individual or group. It consists of identifying the wrong or right actions of an individual or group, either pre-planned to occur or observed by accident, and reprimanding or rewarding those concerned.

CONCLUSION

Values education help students find their place in the world and build their self-confidence. Values in a school curriculum add a dimension to promote the holistic development of the students and benefit their academic achievement. Teachers feel a need to introduce experiential approaches to value education as a means to counter an overly cognitive national curriculum and to address issues of behavior, discipline, and social attitudes. The role of teachers cannot be deemed in developing good character among students.






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