CBSE teacher workshop on Value Education

When values, thoughts, feelings, and actions are in alignment, a person becomes focused and character is strengthened. John C. Maxwell.

To achieve the pledged endeavor of promoting value based education in schools, a Capacity Building Programme was organised by CBSE on 22nd July 2022 , at CoE Delhi (East), from 9 am to 2.30 pm. The workshop was attended by more than fifty teachers of schools across Delhi. Ms Sandhya Batheja attended the seminar on behalf of The Indian School.

The programme commenced with the felicitation of the CBSE Resource Person, Dr Meenakshi Gupta, Principal, S.D. Public School, Patel Nagar. This was followed by the welcome address of Deputy Secretary, CBSE, Ms Mridula Singh. She underlined the importance of values and their necessary application for a meaningful and successful life. It was accented that CBSEs vision of Value Education is to make classrooms a congenial place for children to express themselves, learn forms of interaction and resolve conflicts mutually. She spotlighted that the National Policy on Education (NPE) intends to prepare students for life in a multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious country and that the students need to appreciate and respect diversity.

The workshop was a perfect platform for an insightful discussion where the resource person brought to light why it has become imperative to impart values to students from early childhood.

The workshop explored the understanding of values by students at various levels. Responses and suggestions were invited from the audience about devising strategies to take forward the notion of values from individual to interpersonal and then infiltrating in the community, thereby nurturing students to become responsible global citizens.

Integrating values in the curriculum was the prime endeavor of the workshop. The resource person asserted that the insertion of value education in the school curriculum is the need of the hour. She emphasised that it is vital to understand that education and values are inseparable from the goals of education and it should not be seen as yet another task for schools.

The workshop was conducted in an interactive manner, where each participant was encouraged to share a viewpoint pertaining to a particular value. They were asked to identify one value with which they associate themselves or feel strongly about. Next, the teachers were asked why and how they feel that the topic under discussion is relevant in todays scenario. They were motivated to identify the values which can be taught through the subject lessons.

A brainstorming session was also organised in which teachers had to suggest practical strategies which can be used to ingrain values in the students through various activities conducted at school like the morning assembly, inter school sporting competitions, peer interaction, charity programmes, citizenship related activities, group events etc. They were also asked to do a role play on the topic A rowdy classroom. The teachers were asked to suggest techniques that can be applied to inculcate good values among less disciplined students.

The workshop was a good learning experience as the teachers were exposed to an array of aids and tools like story-telling, poetry, drama, slogan writing etc., as strategies for imparting value education in their classes.

The one-day Capacity Building Programme on value education ended with a vote of thanks and the distribution of certificates to all the participant teachers.