Humanise education in schools: Arjun

Bhopal, Nov13: Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh today called upon schools to ''humanise'' education so that children imbibe values, attitudes and skills required for living in harmony with ''oneself and with others including nature.'' ''It embodies the joy of living and personality development with the qualities of love, hope and courage,'' he said, while speaking at the golden jubilee celebrations of the St Joseph's Convent Senior Secondary School here.

''It encompasses respect for human rights, tolerance , cooperation, social responsibility and respect for cultural diversity in addition to a firm commitment to democracy and non-violent conflict resolution,'' he observed.

This, he said, was imperative in a world that ''is rapidly driven by market forces and consumerism.'' Vice-admiral Nirmal Verma and Bhopal archbishop Pascal Topno were also present.

Pointing out that the issue of quality education presented many questions, he said it was not enough that ''we provide access to school education; we should also ensure that every child gets education of comparable quality.''
''The belief that quality goes with privilege is clearly irreconcilable with out nation's vision of participatory democracy that upholds the principles of egalitarianism and equality of opportunities.'' Observing that education was becoming increasingly central to the progress of human civilization, Mr Arjun Singh called for transformation of educational institutions into learning organisation capable of adopting ''meaningful'' changes to bring about continuous improvement in all their educational endeavours.'' ''The shift of emphasis from education for life to education throughout life highlights the need to turn every individual into life-long learners.'' In this process, he felt, the challenge was of harmonising equality, quality and quantity.

To achieve lofty aims of education, he asked the teachers to act as role models and strive to relate to children through love, justice and understanding.

He lauded the role of St Joseph's Convent and exuded confidence that it would continue to serve the community with distinction and achieve greater glory in years to come.

Referring to the achievements of students passed out of the institution during the past fifty years, he said ''What is more important and praise worth is the fact they have imbibed strong character-based education which is reflected in their sense of social commitment and spirit of volunteerism.''

UNI