Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah has underscored the need for inculcating moral values in children adding that all-round personality development should be the necessary part of the education system in all the educational institutions.“It has been observed that more stress is being given on academic side of education ignoring the importance of non-formal and moral education”, he said maintaining that without these aspects human resource development in its positive format is not possible. He refereed the extra pressure being put on young children by making them to study large number of books right from nursery classes.Given away Rashtrapati Puraskar to Scouts and Guides of Jammu and Kashmir Chapter on behalf of the President of India at a function here this afternoon, the Chief Minister who is also Vice Patron of J&K Chapter of Bharat Scouts and Guides said that the present system of imparting education to the children particularly at the elementary level needs to be changed to suit the personality development of the children and inculcate moral and give importance to the aspect of imparting non-formal education among children including sports.
Omar said that by introducing a system of education where under so many books are handed over to the children from the nursery level for studying ‘we have snatched their childhood from them’. “Is tarah ke talami nizam se ham ne apne bachon ka bachpan hi sheen liya hai”. He underlined the need for a change in the system so that the childhood is restored to the children.The Chief Minister said that the present day practice in the educational system is to judge the capacity and capability of a student from his marks sheet. “This is also not the right balance to weigh the student’s caliber”, he said and added that the all-round personality development should be the measuring stick for judging the worth of a student.Omar said that Bharat Scouts and Guides is the institution which deals with imparting non-formal and moral education in the students making them fittest and all-round developed personalities who could face challenges with confidence and bravely. He said expansion of this institution is significantly necessary to cultivate and nurtured a young generation with both high moral values and academic excellence to take over the rains of the country in future and give new dimension to the welfare and development of the society where discipline, rule of law, honesty and justice would rule the roost.
The Chief Minister announced Rs.4 lakh for J&K Chapter of Bharat Scouts and Guides for its welfare activities and asked the office bearers of the Organization to come up with a proposal of bringing J&K Chapter of Bharat Scouts and Guides at par in benefits to the students associated with this organization with other states of the country.The function was addressed by the President, Bharat Scouts and Guides, J&K Chapter, R. S. Chib, State Commissioner and Secretary, I. D. Soni, Senior Vice President, Roma Wani while Vice President, Gulzar Ahmed Qureshi, Zonal Commissioner, Wing Commander, M. M. Joshi, Training Commanders and other office bearers, parents of the award winners and others were present on the occasion.The Chief Minister gave away 22 Rashtrapati Puraskar to winners and congratulated them on his and on behalf of the President of India for their extraordinary work done as Bharat Scouts and Guides.