Experts reject Sibal plan for value education

India should train schoolteachers and principals in teaching values to students as part of their standard curriculum instead of creating a separate programme for value education, experts have advised the human resource development ministry. HT reports.

India should train schoolteachers and principals in teaching values to students as part of their standard curriculum instead of creating a separate programme for value education, experts have advised the human resource development ministry.

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HRD minister Kapil Sibal is keen that schoolchildren are taught value education alongside their standard subjects, and had discussed his plan with state education ministers at a meeting last month.

The minister had asked a group of experts for their opinion on creating a value education framework.

The experts – including social scientist Yogendra Yadav who helped draft the 2005 National Curriculum Framework (NCF) – advised the minister on Tuesday against creating a separate value education curriculum.

"The NCF already includes value education – inculcating in students key constitutional values like secularism and equality – apart from values like sincerity and honesty, and prescribes ways in which these can be woven into classroom teaching," one of the experts in Tuesday's meeting argued.

The experts, however, accepted that value education remained largely ignored despite the emphasis it received in the NCF.

"The solution is to train teachers and principals better on how to incorporate value education into normal classes. Dedicated value education curricula or classes have rarely worked," another participant in the meeting said.

The HRD ministry is also likely to bring out a training booklet for teachers on value education, sources said.