PROMOTING PEACE THROUGH PEACE AND VALUE EDUCATION ...

International Journal of Teacher Educational Research (IJTER) Vol.2 No.1 January,2013 ISSN: 2319-4642 www.ijter.com

PROMOTING PEACE THROUGH PEACE AND VALUE EDUCATION IN THE TREND OF GLOBALIZATION K.SIVANITHI Assistant Professor of Education Paulsons Teacher Training College Pulichapallm

G. VENNILA Assistant Professor of Education Paulsons Teacher Training College Pulichapallm ABSTRACT

In India from time immemorial, people belonging to various religious faiths lived in harmony and peace. There were fundamental values and traditions in our culture that promoted integration among different communities. But in contemporary India, communalism has been promoted as per a political interest which is harmful for national integration. This communalism has also developed feelings of hatred among students belonging to different communities. The people are so much busy in earning money that they are not able to give proper attention for inculcation of values in their children. Values aim at perfections, self-realization, satisfaction, perfection, development, integrity and cohesion etc. The greater consideration and importance of values, the better is social group. Communalism is an ideology which envisages the religious community as a political group committed to the protection and promotion of its social and economic interests and cultural values. In contemporary India, communalism designates not only the conflicts between extremist religious communities, but also those between people of the same religion but from different regions and states. It is the responsibility of the teacher to inculcate values in the students. Only the inculcation of values in the students can help a lot in bringing communal harmony and national integration. Peace education is the process of acquiring the values, the knowledge and developing the attitudes, skills, and behaviours to live in harmony with oneself, with others, and with the natural environment. As far as the requirement of peace education is concerned, there is need for spread of peace education for the students so that they can become efficient members of society. Although liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG) have their own benefits for progress in this modern society, but they have led to rising of many social evils also. People of all countries have lost the peace of minds as well as harmony in their respective societies due to LPG. Attitudes and thinking of all people have become materialistic and all of them are running behind money in this materialistic world. People are not giving proper attention to the menace of growth of social evils which may be very harmful and destructive for the coming generations. Teacher can plant the seeds of harmony and integration among students‟ minds. The Promoting Peace through Peace and Value Education in the Trend of Globalization 50


government and society at large have equal responsibility to provide the teacher with suitable grounds and thereby bringing about a matured and responsible population for the coming generation to lead a better life. There is no other resource that matches the human being, because mankind is the foundation or the corner stone of any development and civilization. Out of the human intellect, a nation is built. In this paper, a systematic attempt has been made to illustrate the meaning of values and value education, their need, principles about the determination of values, classification of values, different values enshrined in the Indian Constitution, peace education, process of liberalization, privatization, globalization and role of the peace education for inculcating values among students for developing the spirit of communal harmony. Value and Peace Education are significant for combating social evils produced by liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG). Thus Peace can be attained through value and peace education for achieving the objective of National Integration. Keywords: Values, Population, Globalization, National Integration. INTRODUCTION Values relate to the aims of human life. According to its verbal meaning, value signifies that quality of an individual or thing which makes that individual or thing important, respectable and useful. This quality may be internal or external or both. John Dewey explains the term value as to prize, to esteem, to appraise, to estimate. According to him, values mean to cherish something. To be more specific “Education is Value Enterprise.” Values guide the behaviour and conduct of individual. They help in framing goals and direct actions towards achieving the goals. Values are the moving spirit in our lives. MEANING OF VALUES AND VALUE EDUCATION: The word Value is derived from Latin word „Valerie‟ which means strong and vigorous. According to Oxford dictionary, „value‟ means „worth‟. Values guide individual‟s physical and mental health as well as promote social welfare. They serve as guiding principles of life. Values are the by-products of pursuit of aim. Aims are bigger than values. The worth aim depends upon the number and quality of values that its attainment help to realize. The consideration of value is the most important principle in establishing various aims. They are part of the philosophy of a nation and of its educational system. Value Education is defined as the process of inculcating values in the minds of students through various methods of teaching and values based curriculum. “Values belong wholly to the inner world of the mind. The satisfaction of the desire is the real value, the thing that serve is only an instrument. A value is always an experience, never a thing of an object”. D.H. Parker. “Anything which satisfies a human want becomes hereby a value”. Promoting Peace through Peace and Value Education in the Trend of Globalization 51


Henderson· “The term value means the relative prominence of the subject‟s interest or the dominant interest in personality” Allport NEED OF VALUES There is a great need for the values because values give direction to one‟s strivings. Our conduct is motivated by our values. Value is act of cherishing something. A person who value justice will spend a lot of energy in search of it. Value has its importance and worth for the good persons and things. Values relate to the aims of human life. Values aim at perfections, self-realization, satisfaction, perfection and development, integrity, cohesion etc. The greater consideration and importance of values, the better is social group. Values are the co-operative result of an interaction between personal and impersonal elements. Creation and preservation of value is an important purpose of man. Values help in creation of good citizenship. Values are useful for development of vocational efficiency, social efficiency, adjustment, national integration and for reorganization and reconstruction of experience. CLASSIFICATION OF VALUES Different educational thinkers have classified the values in accordance with their own thinking process. Plato classified values as Truth, Beauty and Goodness. Parker‟s classification of values include Biological value, Economic value, Affective value, Social value, Intellectual value, Aesthetic value, Moral value and Religious value. Walter G. Everett classified values as Economic value, Recreational value, Bodily value, Association value, Intellectual value, Character value, Aesthetic value and Religious value. PEACE EDUCATION Peace education may be defined as the process of acquiring the values, the knowledge and developing the attitudes, skills, and behaviours to live in harmony with oneself, with others, and with the natural environment. Peace education is a series of teaching encounters that draw from people, their desire for peace, nonviolent alternatives for managing conflict, and skills for critical analysis of structural arrangements that produce and legitimate injustice and inequality. Peace education can also be thought of as encouraging a commitment to peace as a settled disposition and enhancing the confidence of the individual as an individual agent of peace; as informing the student on the consequences of war and social injustice; as informing the student on the value of peaceful and just social structures and working to uphold or develop such social structures; as encouraging the student to leave the world and to imagine a peaceful future; and as caring for the student and encouraging the student to care for others.

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In 1945, the United Nations was established to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”, “to reaffirm faith in the dignity and worth of the human person in the equal rights of men and women”, “to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained”, and “to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom”. (Preamble to the UN Charter). Peace education has developed as a means to achieve these goals. It is education that is directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It promotes understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups and furthers the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (Article 26, Universal Declaration of Human Rights). As far as the requirement of peace education is concerned, there is need for spread of peace education for the students so that they can become efficient members of society. There is need for involving all teachers in the society into the crusade against lack of peace education among the students. Once peace education is assured of its pride of place, social productivity will consequently increase. Often the theory or philosophy of peace education has been assumed and not articulated. Johan Galtung suggested that no theory for peace education existed and that there was clearly an urgent need for such theory. More recently there have been attempts to establish such a theory. Joachim James Calleja has suggested that a philosophical basis for peace education might be located in the Kantian notion of duty. James has suggested that a rationale for peace education might be located in virtue ethics, consequentialist ethics, conservative political ethics, aesthetic ethics and the ethics of care. GLOBALIZATION The term „globalization‟ means assimilation of economies and societies through cross country flows of information, ideas, technologies, goods, services, capital, finance and people. Globalization in India has permitted companies to enhance their base of operations, develop their employees with least investments, and present new services to a wide range of customers. Cross border assimilation can have numerous dimensions – cultural, social, political and economic. In fact, some natives fear cultural and social assimilation even more than economic assimilation. There is always a fear of cultural domination which haunts many people. Globalization has affected a lot less developed nations. One of the adverse implications of this Global Integration is the emergence of „Neo Imperialism‟ where power relationships have come to determine economic transactions. Although the process of globalization has been an important part of the current economic advancement made by India, but it has resulted in community Promoting Peace through Peace and Value Education in the Trend of Globalization 53


troubles also. One of the major forces of globalization in India has been in the growth of outsourced IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) services. The last few years have seen an increase in the number of skilled professionals in India employed by both local and foreign companies to service customers in the US and Europe in particular. Taking advantage of India‟s lower cost but educated and English speaking work force, and utilizing global communications technologies such as voice-over IP (VOIP), email and the internet, international enterprises have been able to lower their cost base by establishing outsourced knowledge-worker operations in India. But it has led to many social evils also which need proper remediation and it is possible through peace education only. A special case in point is the „Indian Encounter with globalization‟ and how it has led to imbalances, injustice, discrimination, biases, indebtedness, poverty, unemployment and rise of several social evils. The recent farmer suicides that have occurred in various parts of India clearly point out the evils associated with this phenomenon. In addition to this the nation state seems to be losing out a great degree of power and influence in today‟s world. There is uncertainty of problems in the society which can be combated with proper peace education. Bursting suddenly on the world scene in the last quarter of the 20th century after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and the disintegration of Soviet Union around 1990, the concept of globalization has fast come to dominate the contemporary discourse of human affairs. At the same time, the social phenomenon itself that the concept represents has increasingly acquired a persistent presence in the lives of the public across the planet. Economic globalization which is a part of the broader concept of globalization is now considered to be determinative of humanity‟s future, relentlessly propelling the different societies of the world to a common destination-that of convergence in regard to income levels, social structure and behaviour. Peace has suffered a lot in this process of globalization. As a new Indian middle class has developed around the wealth that the IT and BPO industries have brought to the country, a new consumer base has developed. On one hand, International companies are expanding their operations in India to service this massive growth opportunity; on the other hand it has also led to social dissatisfaction among Indian middle class also. Globalization in India has been advantageous for companies that have ventured in the Indian market. By simply increasing their base of operations, expanding their workforce with minimal investments, and providing services to a broad range of consumers, large companies entering the Indian market have opened up many profitable opportunities. Although Indian companies are rapidly gaining confidence and are themselves now major players in globalization through international expansion, these Indian companies are also fully responsible for increase of social evils in the Promoting Peace through Peace and Value Education in the Trend of Globalization 54


society. From steel to Bollywood, from cars to IT, on one hand Indian companies are setting themselves up as powerhouses of tomorrow‟s global economy, on the other hand, it has led to cut throat competition also as well as exploitation of employees and poor working conditions. ROLE OF TEACHER IN INCULCATING VALUES AMONG STUDENTS Education is a mean of value development. The end product is development of moral character, personality and good human being. The teacher has a great role in making the students good human beings and this is possible only if he himself is a good human being. The whole thrust of education is the development of values in human behaviour. Educational values are those activities which are good, useful and valuable from the point of view of education. These contribute to every sphere of life. The teacher should help in making understand the various principles of life to the students and thereby inculcate educational values among students. These values signify a code of principles which are essential for leading a noble life. It helps in building of character. The moral values which need to be inculcated among the students by the teacher are honesty, truthfulness, moral stability, good character, kindness, purity, sympathy and humility. It would help in developing the capacity of earning, vocational efficiency, character, healthy personality, use of leisure time. It promotes social efficiency by developing skills of social adjustments. The role of teacher can also be felt from the following view point of some experts. In the words of Indian Education Commission, “The weakening of social values in the younger generations is creating many serious social problems and ethical conflicts. In the situation that is developing, it is equally important for us to give a proper value orientation to our educational system.” Swami Vivekananda asserts, “Education is the manifestation of divine perfection already existing in man. The ideal is that we must have the whole education of the country, spiritual and secular in our hands and it must be on national lines, through national method as far as practicable. There should be an institution to train teachers who must go about preaching religion and give secular education for our people.” In the view of R.N. Tagore, “The greatest use of education is not merely to collect facts, but to know man and make one self-know to man.” Teacher can be a significant factor in the inculcation of values in the students such as Equality, Justice, Liberty and Fraternity, development of vocational and social efficiency, development of character, development of balanced personality, reorganization and reconstruction of experience, creation of good citizenship, adjustment with the environment and its modification and utilization of leisure time. Teacher should teach to the students that every religion contains components of belief, rituals, information and knowledge, behavioural consequences and the expectations that guide the whole system. Promoting Peace through Peace and Value Education in the Trend of Globalization 55


Religiosity focuses on differences, whereas spirituality emphasizes what is common. Spirituality provides meaning to life and reality. Spirituality connects, with the self, others, god and native. Social scenario in India and the world over demands an active Teacher population striving for peace and tolerance and hence the Teacher needs to take this agenda. The teacher has a great role in the process of a child‟s growing socialization. The role of a teacher during a child‟s early years of development is vital for children‟s physical and mental growth at this time. The teacher observes how the prepared environment works for a child, how children engage in materials and then the teacher adjusts the environment to their needs. This is very important in supporting a process of socialization through which the true nature of a child is revealed. Teacher has a great role in giving peace education to the students and thus promoting communal harmony among students. Peace education is the process of acquiring the values, the knowledge and developing the attitudes, skills, and behaviours to live in harmony with oneself, with others, and with the natural environment. Teacher has a great role in Nation building which is a constructive process of engaging all students in building social cohesion, economic prosperity and political stability in an inclusive and democratic way. It is important to note that the priceless resource of any country is its human resource. There is no other resource that matches the human being, because mankind is the foundation or the corner stone of any development and civilization. Out of the human intellect, a nation is built. This can be confirmed by the fact that many countries are able to attain steady growth and development with limited natural resources through the intelligence of their people and the labor force. Students are a crucial segment of a nation‟s development. Thus teacher‟s contribution is highly needed in promoting peace education and communal harmony among students. CONCLUSION Teachers are social actors of change and have a great role in giving peace education and thus promoting communal harmony among students which is significant for national integration. Time is not evaluated by what has been harvested, but what has been planted. Teacher can plant the seeds of harmony and integration among students‟ minds. The government and society at large have equal responsibility to provide the teacher with suitable grounds and thereby bringing about a matured and responsible population for the coming generation to lead a better life. Meanwhile, it is good to have these structures in place but if the teachers do not make the best use of them, no beneficial result will be realized. Thus it can be said that value is considered to be judgment concerning the worth of an object, person, Promoting Peace through Peace and Value Education in the Trend of Globalization 56


group or situation. Value judgment contains evaluating rating terms such as good, bad, moral, immoral etc. A value is what is desired or what is sought. Value may be operationally conceived as those guiding principle of life which are conducive to one‟s physical and mental health as well as to social welfare and adjustment and which are in tune with one‟s culture. A values has its worth and importance. Values are related to the aims of human life. They give direction to human action. Indian constitutional values are primarily based on four things i.e., Equality, Justice, Liberty and Fraternity which can be an advantage for individual and social life. Teacher can be a significant factor in the inculcation of values in the students such as Equality, Justice, Liberty and Fraternity etc. which are very critical and important for achieving the objective of National Integration. Various Conferences at state, national and international level on value education and peace Education should be organized so as to discuss various issues regarding its relevance and implementation. All the countries need to adopt the various declarations on peace education made by UNESCO. That is, there is need of raising the social awareness about peace education to keep welfare of people at the top of the priority in this era of globalisation. A coherent policy of education for peace, in the perspective of globalisation should be made and implemented. It is time to realize that a peace education is also a necessity for social welfare. Also there is an extreme need to integrate peace education within educational curriculum of students. Therefore, it is imperative to build up the strategy for social security to cover health, peace education to the all students as well as all the members of society so that the challenges in the era of liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG) can be met. What we require to address squarely is expanding and strengthening the awareness creating structure of peace education in the most challenging era of globalisation. REFERENCES Asgharali Engineer. (1995). Lifting the veil: communal violence and communal harmony in contemporary India. Delhi: Sangam Books. Aggarwal J.C (2002) Theory and principles of education. New Delhi : Vikas Publishing house,pp. 384 Balwinder Kaur(2006). Peace Education. New Delhi: Deep and Deep Publication. Chakarborty A.K. (2004) Theory and principles of education. Meerut : Surya Publication, pp.574 – 583 Ghose D.N. (2005). A text book of value education. New Delhi : Dominant Publishers Ludden, David, editor. (1996). Contesting the Nation: Religion, Community, and the Politics of Democracy in India, edited by David Ludden (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania)

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