What is the Aim of Education in Value Inculcation?
Value Inculcation and Learning:
Values are inseparable from the life of an individual. Since education is an essential requirement, an integral part of life, the aims of education, content and methodology is viewed in terms of value development. Human development cannot be conceived in the absence of values. The aim of education is growth or development both intellectual and moral. Education from the value development point of view is a scientific process of developing a desirable form of thinking and ability to deal with issues related to values. Values form a significant aspect of all the areas of development.
The phrase Value Education as used in the are of school education refers to the study of development of essential values in pupils and the practices suggested for the promotion of the same. Value education is education in values and education towards the inculcation of values. In its full range of meaning, value education includes, developing the appropriate sensibilities moral, cultural, spiritual. Value education is essentially Man Making and Character Building.
Moral or value development is a continuous, cumulative and highly interdependent process touching all the aspects of personality. Moral development is the axis on which revolves one’s personality and character. Moral development has been studied as part of cognitive development, social learning and psychoanalytic dimensions. The outcome of the studies conducted by several development psychologists are very useful in deciding about the activities in value education for school children.
Concern for value education is increasing in recent years as a result of crisis of values that our society is currently experiencing. The issue has been projected as one of the national priority in the nation’s education. The National Education Policy, 1986 declares that the growing concern over the erosion of essential values and increasing cynicism in society has brought to focus the need for readjustment in the curriculum in order to make education a forceful tool for the cultivation of social and moral values.
The National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2000, (NCERT) in India, observed that schools can and must strive to restore and sustain the universal and eternal values oriented towards the unity and integration of the people. Their moral and spiritual growth enables them to realize the treasure within.
The school curriculum has to contain components that communicate essential values in their totality. If moral or value education is to be effectively undertaken, it must be firmly based on the principles of value development. One of the distinguishing features of Indian philosophy is that throughout its long history, it has continuously given the foremost place to values. Our aims of value development and education are derived from this root.
The content of communication media serves as a source of values. Teachers and parents act as models for children to cultivate socially desirable behavioral patterns.
The field of value education is as broad as life itself and touches every aspect of human life, personality and education. Whether or not they offer specific programs, educational institutions provide some kind of value education. In many institutions, the curriculum of value education is formal and direct, while in large majority of schools it is informal and indirect. The pupils learning of values in the school is a continuation of their learning in their family, community and through mass media.
Therefore, the school should take into cognizance and utilize all types of social and educational influences affecting the development of values in pupils for value education purpose.
