Education is a subject on the Concurrent List of the Constitution and a majority of schools are under the purview of the State Governments. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks prescribe 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 as a follow-up of the National Curriculum Framework 2005. NCERT has also brought out a Value Education Framework entitled Education for values in schools A framework" which provides guidelines to schools to identify their priorities of values and plan their actions accordingly. NCERT has also developed a Resource Book for teachers called Ways to Peace".
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has made moral education compulsory in the curriculum offered to the schools affiliated to it. It has published source books for classes VI-VIII and a Teachers Manual on Life Skills for Classes IX-X and also on Environmental Education and Adolescent Education which help to foster values in children. It has also introduced value-based questions from the prescribed books in the Summative Assessment II in classes IX-X and in the final examination in classes XI-XII from the year 2012-13. CBSE has also launched a value education kit comprising of a Hand Book for Teachers, Values Cards and a CD on songs on the theme of Duty, Solidarity and Respect for Nature.
Universities, being autonomous in academic matters, are free to revise the syllabi and curricula. However, the University Grant Commission (UGC) is funding various programmers at the Under-Graduate and Post-Graduate levels concerning Human Rights and Values Education in the universities and colleges. The Commission has also been implementing the scheme of Human Rights Education with a focus on values education and providing financial assistance to the eligible Universities/ Colleges under this scheme. The objectives of this scheme, inter-alia, include the creation of awareness and commitment to values where the individualistic self-interest is reconciled with the collective and common good.
This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Shri Upendra Kushwaha today in a written reply to a Lok Sabha question.
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