It all goes back to a couple of years before the independence of our country . The University of Mauritius did not exist yet . Such a great honour it was for a student to come back home from an overseas university with a degree that he was given the reception of a hero. He had the distinction of being the first graduate in the locality and was treated as a celebrity; it was still rarer to see someone with an MA . Only a handful of parents in those days really had the means to send their children abroad for higher education .

As President of the Cultural Society at the Teacher’s Training College (T.T.C ) , Beau Bassin , I had the pleasure and also the privilege of welcoming Prof. Joshi , MA , an expert on Asian Studies from India . To introduce that eminent person to the audience , I had to go back over his long career , giving details with particular emphasis on his academic qualifications, where he had been serving and in what capacity .

But what astonished the large gathering of student- teachers and tutors including the principal, when he took the chair to address was his comment that “ with MA as the highest academic pursuit , one’s education remains incomplete without the letter N being added to it - MA + N to become MAN .So long as the scholar or the high- flying academic or whoever he or she is does not grow enough to attain refinement in his or her character, perception and whole outlook on life, the education acquired is lacking in so many ways “ .

In an article on education, Dr Albert Einstein is perhaps as near as can be to the whole truth. He writes that it is not enough to teach a man a specialisation . Through it, he may become a kind of useful machine but not a harmoniously developed personality . It is essential that the student acquire an understanding of and a lively feeling for values . He goes on to state that he must acquire a moral sense of the beautiful and of the morally good . Otherwise he - with his specialised knowledge - more closely resembles a well - trained dog than a harmoniously developed person … He ends his paper stressing that teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty .

These essential lessons bring into focus the need for the inclusion of human values as a subject in the school curriculum . Everywhere people talk about human values but hardly anyone comes forward with ideas of how our children can be taught to learn these basics . Most parents nowadays are too busy to have some time with their boys and girls to give them a good start in life . They say as parents they are meeting their children’s special educational needs yet they blame the school for not teaching human values as was the practice in their own days . On the other hand , teachers in general claim that they have to give results : the authorities and the public at large are interested in the results of children , and thus teachers are so hard-pressed that they find little or no time for human values . Who is right and who is wrong ?

Whoever is right or wrong is not as important as the education of our children who are the destiny and the glory of our island home . Somehow something must be done to bring back human values into our educational system so as to instil the first principles into young minds. Already a positive signal came the other day from the new minister, Mr Dharam Gokhool, in a function at Bon Accueil Form Vl College where he stated he would see to it that human values form part of the subjects taught in the course of study .Let us wait and see.

Kaviraj SohurIt all goes back to a couple of years before the independence of our country . The University of Mauritius did not exist yet . Such a great honour it was for a student to come back home from an overseas university with a degree that he was given the reception of a hero. He had the distinction of being the first graduate in the locality and was treated as a celebrity; it was still rarer to see someone with an MA . Only a handful of parents in those days really had the means to send their children abroad for higher education .

As President of the Cultural Society at the Teacher’s Training College (T.T.C ) , Beau Bassin , I had the pleasure and also the privilege of welcoming Prof. Joshi , MA , an expert on Asian Studies from India . To introduce that eminent person to the audience , I had to go back over his long career , giving details with particular emphasis on his academic qualifications, where he had been serving and in what capacity .

But what astonished the large gathering of student- teachers and tutors including the principal, when he took the chair to address was his comment that “ with MA as the highest academic pursuit , one’s education remains incomplete without the letter N being added to it - MA + N to become MAN .So long as the scholar or the high- flying academic or whoever he or she is does not grow enough to attain refinement in his or her character, perception and whole outlook on life, the education acquired is lacking in so many ways “ .

In an article on education, Dr Albert Einstein is perhaps as near as can be to the whole truth. He writes that it is not enough to teach a man a specialisation . Through it, he may become a kind of useful machine but not a harmoniously developed personality . It is essential that the student acquire an understanding of and a lively feeling for values . He goes on to state that he must acquire a moral sense of the beautiful and of the morally good . Otherwise he - with his specialised knowledge - more closely resembles a well - trained dog than a harmoniously developed person … He ends his paper stressing that teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty .

These essential lessons bring into focus the need for the inclusion of human values as a subject in the school curriculum . Everywhere people talk about human values but hardly anyone comes forward with ideas of how our children can be taught to learn these basics . Most parents nowadays are too busy to have some time with their boys and girls to give them a good start in life . They say as parents they are meeting their children’s special educational needs yet they blame the school for not teaching human values as was the practice in their own days . On the other hand , teachers in general claim that they have to give results : the authorities and the public at large are interested in the results of children , and thus teachers are so hard-pressed that they find little or no time for human values . Who is right and who is wrong ?

Whoever is right or wrong is not as important as the education of our children who are the destiny and the glory of our island home . Somehow something must be done to bring back human values into our educational system so as to instil the first principles into young minds. Already a positive signal came the other day from the new minister, Mr Dharam Gokhool, in a function at Bon Accueil Form Vl College where he stated he would see to it that human values form part of the subjects taught in the course of study .Let us wait and see.

<B>Kaviraj SOHUR</B>