Educational reforms need of hour

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, October 16

Every school is teaching profit maximisation — a 100-year-old theory, which is gradually becoming irrelevant. Most unethical practices, being followed by businessmen across the world that are making headlines, are the outcome of profit maximisation theory being taught in schools.

Manoj K Sharma, professor, University Business School, Panjab University, stated 

this at a seminar on  “Relevance of Ethics in Education” organised by The Tribune and Chandigarh University in Kangra today. As many 

as 55 school principals from Kangra participated in the event.

Professor Sharma said ethical education in schools was becoming more relevant. “Ethical education involves exploring different world views and beliefs. It also involves the process of ethical decision making,” he added. 

In ethical education, the curriculum should involve inculcation of values and making moral and ethical decisions. Earlier, families and elders in society used to teach these values, but now schools are doing the job. “Ethical education also includes inter-cultural education, human rights, philosophy, religions and citizenship education, aiming at making students better citizens,” he said.

Professor Sharma said ethics differed across different cultures. “Discrimination across cultures is due to lack of ethics. It is the duty of educational institutions to sensitise students about various cultures. It should be included in the syllabus so that students passing out of various institutions are more tolerant to different cultures,” he said.

Studies conducted in various leading institutes revealed that companies that did not follow ethical practices were bound to suffer losses over a period of time.

RS Bawa, Vice-Chancellor, Chandigarh University, said justice was an important part of ethical teaching. “We have to include it in our curriculum. Students need to be taught that they have to be rationalised. They should understand the importance of professional ethics and personal code. If the people had personal code and professional ethics, big scams in banks would not have happened,” he said.

Professor Bawa said in his institution, he had made all policies student-centric. “It is the first university in the country, where the students have a say in every major decision, including syllabus change, interaction with the industry and even taking penal action against erring students,” he added.

Bawa stressed the importance of schools in shaping the future of students. “We cannot force students. All, we can do is convince them,” he stated.

“At Chandigarh University, imparting communication skills and giving psychological counselling have been made mandatory,” he said.

Profit maximisation behind unethical practices

Most unethical practices, being followed by businessmen across the world, are the outcome of profit maximisation theory being taught in schools. Studies conducted in various leading institutes revealed that companies that did not follow ethical practices were bound to suffer losses.

Ethics influence behaviour and allow an individual to make the right choice. Ethical education is the essence of modern education. — Navneet Dogra, director, bharti vidyapeeth school, baijnath

Ethics in education are essential as they help run the system smoothly. Institutions are designing courses that help students understand these. While it’s a teacher’s job to make students aware of these ethics, school managements often take it upon themselves to familiarise instructors with ethics that are relevant to their profession. — Sunil Kant Chadha, principal, gav public school, kangra

In education, ethics have an important role to play. There should be a course in ethics. — Wangchuk, principal, tibetan children village school, lower dharamsala

Ethics are well-founded standards that make actions right and wrong. They help categorise different values such as integrity discipline and honesty. — Rama Devi, principal, dehra public school, khabli

Ethical education is the most important and functioning branch of philosophy. The term is derived from ethos (Greek),  which means custom and character. It is related to our values and virtues. — PC Chauhan, sarvodya model school, dehra

Ethics in education should be a must as today’s educational theories are  more or less based on philosophies. Plato, who was the founder of idealism, claimed that the aim of education was to develop an individual’s abilities to better serve society. — Munish Awasthi, Director, neugal public school, palampur

As a principal, it’s our foremost duty to inculcate ethics in education as it helps in inculcating discipline, honesty and nation-building qualities among students. — Shipra Kayastha, principal, modern public senior sec school, kangra

Ethical values are diminishing among kids. Emphasis is on adding ethical education to our curriculum and making students aware of the moral and ethical values so that they are able to scale greater heights. — Munish Rana, principal, shivalik international convent school, bhatti-khoula jwalamukhi

It may not be a part of school or college curriculum, but it should be a part of one’s life. Moral values do play an important role. Teachers and parents play a major role in imparting moral education to children. Ethics and etiquettes must be inculcated among the students along with formal education, which may lead to not only an educated society, but also a well-civilised and stable nation. — Rakesh Chand, lecturer, gsss, chabutra