Education and value creation has been a hot topic of discussion over the years, particularly in India. There are many instances where experts observing the developments in education in India have vehemently criticized the present education system in the country. One such expert has opined that education should be a means to create healthy minds than wealthy careers alone. This view is being shared many across the academic world.

Education should be vehicle of knowledge and not greed

Education should be considered as a vehicle of knowledge which will drive the life of an individual to success. It will result in self preservation and equip individuals with knowledge about social conduct, self respect and strength. The greatest contribution from education should be a set of values that will guide us through our lives. These values will help us to determine what is right and what is wrong, encourage us to work hard, be committed to your work and develop a sense of self respect. This makes education essential and significant in human life. But when we look at the modern education system, we can see that it does not help in developing any of the above said qualities. In short the current education system has created nothing but chaos. Scientific education has failed to improve the living conditions of the poor and has succeeded in developing means to destroy human life and to do damage to the planet. The outcomes of present day education are consumerism and greed, which has broken down the balance of the nature and human values. The education system we follow has failed miserably in creating healthy minds and the most damaging consequence of this is the rise of terrorism across the world. People have become less tolerant and less forgiving which has made life miserable.

Education is continuous process

Education is a process that extends throughout our life and which starts from our family. It is responsible for character formation and self improvement of an individual on a continuing basis.  Our education system should aim at preparing the students to search for the truth which must be guided by the value system we uphold.

Objective of education is not to feed information

The objective of the present education system is to feed students with information, which will damage the critical thinking and analytical abilities of the students. Education has become exam oriented and success is often defined in terms of marks and highly paid jobs rather than developing a good citizen. Only through value based education can a good citizen be developed, with self respect and respect for others.

Creating a responsible citizen

The main objective of any education system should be to create a good citizen. It should enable us to think independently and critically to arrive at the truth and thus help in the enhancement of self and the society. In addition to this education system should prepare an individual to find out a means for livelihood.

But unfortunately, the education system that is being followed us will make us greedy for money and wealth. As a result value based education has become irrelevant in the present education system.

If the main objective of education is to feeds students with information, it might be possible to produce intellectuals, but not good citizens whom we could entrust with developing the country. In the present day, it is being observed that most of them who commit serious crimes are intellectuals.

Lectures does not translate into action

Recently the governments and academicians across the world and in India have started to give importance to value based education. But the problem that they are facing is on how to teach students about human values and to develop the same in them. There have been many instances where lectures were given by scholars on the topic of value based education. Education bodies in India such as NCERT, UGC, etc has organised talks and symposiums on the topic and such programmes were rich with scholars from across India. But all these programmes failed to make any impact on value based education being followed. The lectures and talks that were delivered were just like any other lecture in colleges and failed to generate positive outcome. The main reason for this failure is the huge gap between such talks and action. For positive outcomes, there should be match between ideas and action. For instance, a faculty who teaches non violence should follow the same in his life too.

Lack of models and leaders

In the present education system we do not have perfect examples such as role models or leaders to pointfingers at as the one who teaches values and value system lacks the same in their personal life. It is high time that our teachers and scholars consider and follow the words by our nation’s father “be the change you want to see in the world”.

Values should be followed for effective teaching

Teaching moral values is not like teaching subjects like mathematics or chemistry. A science or mathematic teacher does not have anything to do with the theories other than teaching them. And so the students do not have anything to learn from the lives of such teachers. But in the case of subjects such as moral philosophy and applied ethics, it is not the case. They have to lead a moral and ethical life to teach such subjects.

We should stop blaming each other for the present plight of the education system. We need to develop new ways to deliver value based education, which is more important then cracking examinations and scoring good marks. Even if they fail in their examinations, value based education system will ensure that they become responsible citizens of our country and contribute positively to the development of the nation. Let us not forget that what we do today will benefit the future generations to come and let us hope that they will live in a better world than the one we live in.