Moral education is must for the development and prosperity of a society or a nation, but it has been observed that during present era, the prevailing education system is only stressing on academics, to make working-robots and responsibility of inculcation of moral values is restricted only to parents. Moreover, these days when both of the parents are working, the children often remain deprived of this important aspect of life, which can cause numerous problems for them in future. The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005, developed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), which sets the guidelines and direction for the development of syllabi and textbooks at all the school stages, emphasizes on ethical development, inculcating the values, attitudes and skills such as human rights, justice, tolerance, co-operation, social responsibility, non-violence and respect for cultural diversity, etc. required for living in harmony with oneself and with others. While replying to a query in Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Education, Annpurna Devi informed, that NCERT textbooks, developed on the basis of NCF, 2005, prescribe and integrate 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. University Grants Commission (UGC) has launched a policy framework- “Mulya Pravah – Guidelines for Inculcation of Human values and Professional Ethics in Higher Educational Institutions”. It emphasizes that stakeholders of an institution, be they faculty, students, administrators or others, should be guided by the core values like integrity, dedication, trusteeship, sustainability, inclusiveness, commitment, respectfulness, harmony and belongingness. Further, the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 also provides for ethical reasoning, traditional Indian values and all basic human and Constitutional values such as Seva, Ahimsa, Swachchhata, Satya, Nishkam Karma, Shanti, sacrifice, tolerance, diversity, pluralism, righteous conduct, gender sensitivity, respect for elders, respect for all people and their inherent capabilities regardless of background, etc. Moreover, education being a subject in the Concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of schools are under the jurisdiction of State/Union Territory (UT) Governments, it is for the respective State/ UT Government to take appropriate action to impart the moral education on the students of their schools.
