Moral education and yoga are great way to lay the foundation of good and purposeful life

Most social thinkers, educationalists, spiritual leaders and even parents now realize across the globe that moral education should be one of the most essential parts of the educational curriculum. Moral education helps children acquire the virtues or habits that help them live a good life and at the same time become constructive and productive for society. In this way, moral education should contribute not only to the students as individuals but also to social cohesion. Now amid growing tensions, children need to learn how to live harmoniously in society.

Hence, the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 provides for ethical reasoning, traditional Indian values and all basic human and Constitutional values such as seva, ahimsa, swachchhata, satya, nishkam karma, shanti, sacrifice, tolerance, diversity, pluralism, righteous conduct, gender sensitivity, respect for elders, respect for all people and their inherent capabilities regardless of background, etc.

The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005, developed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), also sets the guidelines and direction for the development of syllabi and textbooks at all the school stages, emphasizes on ethical development, inculcating the values, attitudes and skills such as human rights, justice, tolerance, co-operation, social responsibility, non-violence and respect for cultural diversity, etc. required for living in harmony with oneself and with others.

The NCERT textbooks, developed on the basis of NCF, 2005, prescribe and integrate themes and examples related to moral conduct across the subject areas and across the various stages of school education in the syllabi and textbooks for classes I-XII.

University Grants Commission (UGC) has launched a policy framework- “Mulya Pravah – Guidelines for Inculcation of Human values and Professional Ethics in Higher Educational Institutions”. It emphasizes that stakeholders of an institution, be they faculty, students, administrators or others, should be guided by the core values like integrity, dedication, trusteeship, sustainability, inclusiveness, commitment, respectfulness, harmony and belongingness.

Moreover, education is a subject in the concurrent list of the Constitution and the majority of schools are under the jurisdiction of State/Union Territory (UT) Governments, it is for the respective State/ UT government to take appropriate action to impart the moral education to the students of their schools.

The ministry had constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Prof. H.R. Nagendra on 15th January 2016 for making recommendations on Yoga Education in Universities to give the students a calming feeling while studying. The committee submitted its report in April 2016 and prescribed a curriculum for Yoga courses in its recommendations.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has informed that it has recognized the studies in Yoga at the Graduation and Post Graduation levels. The UGC has also introduced Yoga as a new National Eligibility Test (NET) subject from January 2017 UGC-NET onwards. Further, as per the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) Portal 2019-20, 131 Universities are offering Yoga related courses.

(The writer is a senior Journalist)