Education has a much bigger role to play for the human being than it has been ever thought of. It is an irony as well that in our country education has not been given the place that it has always deserved. Many of the people still today, do not understand the significance and profoundness of education in their lives thus they choose to remain uneducated and in a way cease their inner and outer development. Education is not an alien concept for Indians in fact, it was in India only, the system of Gurukul was actually originated. Gurukul was a place in the ancient times where the sons of the kings used to receive education through saints and gurus. They were given the finest and sophisticated knowledge of Vedas, Upanishads, Mantras, Ayurveda, Vastushastra, Inner Discipline and Value education that could enable them to achieve an elevated self for the welfare of the community and society. Education imparts the knowledge and that too not an ordinary one, but the one that liberates (“Sa Vidya Ya Vimuktaye”). Education is the basically a formal process of giving intellectual, moral, physical, and social instruction to a child for his or her all-round development.
Education works like a building block for the personality of the human being because it develops the personality and inherent capabilities of a child. It helps the person to open up all the dimensions of his/her thinking process. An educated person is undoubtedly much capable of dealing and handling the life situations and moreover is able to understand the complexity of the social system of a nation. An educated person is much aware and alert and he at least is able to realize the vitality of his responsibilities towards the society and the nation he is a citizen of. Society and education have always been interconnected.
Without education it is just impossible to understand the societal arrangements and also to act in the way that is beneficial for the society. To have, to have a strong social system, it is essential to nurture the foundation of that very system with firm value based education and knowledge. It is deliberately essential to nurture the human minds of that society with righteous knowledge. Mahatma Gandhi ji once referred that “Education means all-round drawing out of the best in child and man—body, mind, and spirit.” Education acts as the basis of personality development in all dimensions—moral, mental, and emotional. Likewise Swami Vivekananda also stated that, “Educate and raise the masses, and thus alone a nation is possible”. Thus, education is the key to society’s progress and development and that too the Value education (includes many dimensions) that supports the society to lay down a foundation on which the castles of peace and prosperity can be built.
Education as such is a broad term or category that has different sub categories and dimensions. And each of its dimensions has a contributing role to play for the mankind. Education has a valuable role to play thus we can name it as Value Education. Why we term it as a value education that would be much clear to you when you would further read the description of the dimensions of education. Value education is a term used to name several things, and there is much academic controversies surrounding it. Some regard it as all aspects of the process by which teachers transmit values to the students while others perceive it as an activity that can takes place in any organization during which people are assisted by others who may be older, in a position of authority or are more experienced, to make explicit those values underlying their own behaviour, to access the effectiveness of these values and associated behaviour which they recognize as being more effective for long term well-being of self and others. It means that value education can occur at home, as well as in schools, colleges, universities, institutions and voluntary organizations. There exist two keys approaches to the value education that is stated as, A) Value education is considered as inculcating or transmitting a set of values which often come from societal or religious rules or cultural ethics. B) Value education is considered as a type of Socratic dialogue where people are gradually brought to their own realization of what is good behaviour for themselves and their community. Thus, value education is considered to an integral part of the system that imparts values and ethics to the human beings that not only increases their intellectual and inner being but also prepare them to become an active doer in the process of development of the society. The different dimensions of education that I have been referring to are as follows:
a) Moral Education
b) Religious Education
c) Spiritual Education
d) Civic Education
e) Social Education
f) Cultural Education
These all above mentioned dimensions of education would have an overwhelming impact on the personality of an individual if given at the right time and in right conduct. And each of them works all together in order to create a better personality and enhancing the same. While Moral education (socio-legal-religious norms) is supposed to help the people to behave responsibly and guiding them to differentiate between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ morals at the same time religious education help them to inculcate discipline in their actions and ideologies. Knowledge of religion will help the individual to follow the right conduct or ‘Dharma’ in life whereas spiritual knowledge helps to ignite the flame of self-realization in the person. Spiritual education brings awakening in an individual and helps him to enlighten the inner self. These all knowledge will help the person to prepare him/her to contribute the potential and specialties in the way of progress of the society.
Society is an amalgamation of individuals of vivid temperaments and ideologies. And what else would be more appreciable than to have the intellectual and enlightened citizens who are awakened and ready to contribute to the welfare of the society? Civic education helps the people to understand their responsibilities towards their society and nation, being a citizen what are they supposed to do. Civic education not only inculcates knowledge regarding the responsibility but also raises the affection and respect for one’s native place. People feel better connected and responsive than before. A value based socialization of children and its people is an open door to better opportunities and prospects. Through the medium of social education the people are being prepared in order to build up social contacts with the people in the outside world. If the people are socially well developed they directly and indirectly, make the process of globalization much easier for them. And once a society is introduced to modern processes like westernization and globalization, it surely witnesses development and advancement in the future. Finally, the cultural value based education has also an important role.
Cultural education in a way allows the people to know about the versatility in the patterns, fashions, traditions, ethos and practices of the society. People come to know about what makes their nation unique and different from the rest of the nations in the world. A culture is a symbol of identity that represents a nation as a whole. And in a nation like India that possesses vivid cultures under one roof, it is actually a privilege to know about such a great culture. Twenty eight states and their unique cultures make the phenomena of culture so appealing to everyone. Introducing the children with the history and culture of their nation would be a great idea to inculcate enthusiasm and regards towards the same.
Indian society is the one of the oldest civilizations and it is the duty of its citizens to motivate it towards the way from where it never sees back rather it progresses day by day. It is our duty to keep alive the zeal and spirit of our Indian society. In the present time our society is suffering from a plague of many heinous practices and issues like rape, crimes, violence, child labour, child trafficking, and prostitution and so on, and in such a state it is the foremost responsibility of the intellectuals, Government and even the general public to stop the society from decomposing and damaging any further. Value education is the one of the best solutions for the majority of the issues our Indian society is dealing with today. And once the issues are resolved society will automatically start to progress.
