Value education is  important for students seeking to make a mark in the cut-throat world of engineering. This will not only enable the aspirants to maintain their equanimity while facing challenges but also makes them capable of taking decisions that do not violate any ethical values in their daily interactions, says Aakash Chaudhry

With a belief that the tech graduates should be steeped in professionalism as well as human values, the Ministry of Human Resources Development has plans to introduce value-based education courses for engineering students of the elite IITs, NIITs and NITs. According to the plan value education will be integrated with the basic curriculum preferably in the first year itself and will be activity-based.

While there has always been a discussion about the importance of value education in the top engineering colleges of the country, no real action has yet been taken because of a lack of clarity of the kind of modules and content to follow. However, recently the ministry organised a high-level meeting of representatives of various institutes at IIT-Delhi and demonstrated its seriousness about the initiative.

Value education may be integrated from the very first year itself as wherever the modules have been introduced, the impact on students has been very positive. Even large companies prefer candidates who have experienced such education as it makes them better team players and future leaders.

There are suggestions to start a resource centre that will build suitable content and also train teachers for imparting value-based education to students of the elite engineering colleges. Introducing value education for technical disciplines can be quite a work-intensive task as it involves development of suitable strategies that are apt for the students’ field of study and areas of future work. There will be an emphasis on ethics in professional practice and the ways to deal with moral problems.

Value education is very important for students seeking to make a mark in the cut-throat world of engineering. The profession often brings with it bouts of extreme stress and ruthless competition, dealing with which requires a solid base of ethical and human values from the very onset. These values enable aspiring and practising engineers to maintain their equanimity while facing such challenges. It also makes them capable of taking decisions that do not violate any ethical values in their daily interactions. Often we hear of students committing suicide or taking to harmful habits like drug abuse in order to combat the concomitant pressure of studying for or working as an engineer. A robust value base will ensure that students are never led to such extreme steps, that are not just detrimental for them but also adversely impact those around them.

In this regard, coaching institutions too can make a difference. They can make aspiring students understand and appreciate the impact on technological development, ethics and human welfare that they will be able to make once they embark on their professional journey.

Value education at the level of aspiring students is aimed at making them realise that technical skills and human values go hand in hand. The fact that their line of profession makes a lot of difference in the lives of others and in society, if carried out responsibly, can further motivate aspiring students to ace the exams and join the ranks of change-makers. Hence, it is the onus of coaching institutes to keep reminding students of the values and integrity with which they must conduct themselves in the present as well as the future.

The most dedicated coaching institutes of the country have always used a human principle in their interaction with students. Many regularly counsel students on dealing with stress or motivating them to do their best in the competitive exams. It’s a well-known fact that the faculty and management at some of these leading institutes have been consistently supporting their students even when it comes to personal and financial problems. Now, these institutes can also play a greater role in imparting value-based education as the weightage given to it is likely to increase manifold in the curriculum of top engineering institutions of the nation.

Nowadays, many of the top coaching institutes lay emphasis on value education and they can take these initiatives further as the focus on such training is augmented by college faculties. Most of the teachers at these institutes come with a background of academic excellence and professional success. Also, the students spend a lot of their time interacting with these teachers during the preparatory classes and develop close inter-personal relationships with them. This relationship of trust and respect can be effectively used by the teachers to give guidance to students.

Some coaching institutes have  offered stress management classes etc on days when regular classes aren’t being held to help students to deal with the pressures of competitive examinations. These sessions can also be employed to impart value-based education and share the importance of humanitarian principles. Often it is found that students are already over-burdened with their syllabus and mock tests etc, so there is rarely any time to hold extra value education classes. Since aspirants already spend at least 20 hours a week at these institutes, certain essential values and ethics can be easily passed on to them during these hours. In the midst of the classes, teachers can insist on an ethical approach towards studying and appearing for tests.

The writer is director, Aakash Educational Services ltd.