Today,in the 21st century, parents and education institutions are concerned about themoral development of children. They are looking to schools, whether public orprivate, to take the lead in teaching character (McClellan, 1999). Theresponsibility of educators in India is especially important now, as the modernday education has turned attention to a more scientifically developedcurriculum, based upon economic productivity rather than character development.It exclude the overt study of character education. Therefore in such asituation it is important for schools to include moral education and characterbuilding in an integrated manner along with other subjects. Despite makingeducation available to different minority groups the communities are not ableto use this right to the maximum. Reasons may be the curriculum that is modernand fail to protect the religious minority interests and values. In addition,there may be restrictions on girl child to education due to socio religiousfactors. Failure to address these problems also prevents access to education bymany. Thus when the curriculum includes a balance of religious knowledge andvalues along with modern day education it would attract minorities and theywould not hesitate to send their children to schools even the girl child. Onesuch model school that is changing the discourse through designing educationalprogrammes around the unique needs of the community is a Muslim minority schoolin Vadodara, Gujarat India called “The Rightway School”.
RIGHTWAY: A Muslim Minority School
The”Rightway English Medium School” in Vadodara established in the year 2017, is aschool established by a city based entrepreneur who had a dream mission ofpreparing community students for global living through English MediumEducation. He is successful to fulfil the dream mission of providing charactereducation, integrated with mainstream education with establishment of RightwaySchool. The program of education in this school at all stages is enriched byprinciples of Indian culture and Islamic values in order to develop individual characterand dignity among community children to strengthen and purify the base ofpatriotism. Location of the school proves to be an important factor for itssuccess, as the vicinity is of Muslim minorities and they had a long demand forEnglish medium school that could cater quality education at affordable fees.Thus, within a short time period of its establishment, this school has provedto be a boon for the community children. School currently has 840 students and55 staff members, there are Classes from Nursery to class X. Though the schoolfollows state board curriculum it has designed educational programmes aroundthe unique needs of the community. A mainstay of this school is its approach touse curriculum as a source of character education, the syllabus is so plannedthat student’s moral imagination is encouraged and deepens his understanding ofwhat constitutes a life of character.
Thisschool uses infusion approach, an approach that recover, recast, or create aschool’s mission statement, one that reflects the priority placed on thedevelopment of good character. Such a statement legitimizes the attention ofadults and students alike to this educational goal. An important element of theinfusion approach is the language with which a school community addressesissues of character and the moral domain. Teachers and administrators committedto an infusion approach use the language of virtues and speak of good and poorbehaviour and of right and wrong. Words such as responsibility, respect,honesty, and perseverance are part of the working vocabulary of adults andstudents alike. It expects administrators to hire staff with good character asa criterion. A school’s rituals, traditions, rules, and procedures have animpact on student’s culture, students’ sense of what is right and wrong andwhat is desired and undesired behaviour. The school culture conveys powerfulmessages to students. This ethos or moral climate of a school focus on moralcharacter development along with modern education.
Traditional and Modern Education
Acurriculum is the vehicle by which a school reaches its goals. It representsthe school’s values, philosophy and culture. The curriculum itself comprisesdifferent components including the official, operational, hidden, null, andextra curricula activities (Schubert, 1986; Wilson, 2005). These componentswork simultaneously to meet the stated goals of the institution, which usuallyincludes enhancing the lives of students (Schubert, 1986). It is necessary tosee how character education is delivered in each component of the curriculum.At Rightway School the curricula not only contain the core knowledge of culturebut also our moral heritage. To achieve this Islamic studies is introduced as acompulsory subject and Arabic subject is introduced from class 1st itself. Themain motive of traditional/Islamic education at Rightway School, is that thestudent learns about the customs and tradition of the society in which theylive.The opportunity for teaching character through integrated units isoptimized by use of religious stories, as well as through Islamic Educationclasses. To achieve the best outcomes the teachers use interactive methodologyfor teaching, they use stimulation of reflective and critical thinking and makeit possible for students to imbibe the modern spirit and character based onrationalism and scientific thinking. Islamic education trains the sensibilityof pupils in such a manner that in their attitude to live, their actions,decisions and approach to all kind of knowledge, are governed by the spiritualand deeply felt ethical values of Islam. Therefore at Rightway School theteaching of character education, the school mission statement, school visionstatement and goals, reflect the schools’ focus on moral development.
Challenges
Thechallenges faced by minority religious schools is the impact of modernization,due to modernisation many of the cherished values of the past are lost. Thissituation has created confusion both to the individual and to the society. Inthe absence of meaningful human values the life of modern educated man hasbecome more mechanical and materialistic. (C.N.Shanker Rao, 1990). Due tooveremphasis on science and technology the emphasis on moral education orIslamic education in minority schools get neglected, and thus prevent themodern learners from knowing their own religious traditions and values. Thus wecan say that in order to modernize the present society, Indian education systemshould balance science and technology with moral values and ethical education.If we can combine moral and spiritual education with the modern educationsystem then we can move rapidly toward modernization through an ideal system ofeducation.
Last Word
Therole of schools has constantly evolved over time and the manner in which moraleducation was carried out previously no longer caters to the expectations andaspirations of all stakeholders. With rapid technological, economic andcultural change, schools also will have to develop a variety of means tomorally stimulate children and make them committed to moral action. In thecurrent times most of the parents are working because of which they spend lesstime with their children due to which they lack moral values and are not ableto differentiate between what is wrong and right. Therefore schools mustencourage children to understand why people do one thing and not another. Theyshould be assisted to learn how to take a position and consider facts relevantabout a moral issue. Therefore the need of the hour is that the educationsystem must design such an approach that the individual at a formative stageshould distinguish to differentiate between what is good and what is bad.
Dr.Swaleha is Academic Advisor for schools, Associate Editor & EducationCorrespondent for Eurasia Review Journal, South Asia