learning your values

Education is a form of learning in which knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next. Any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational. There are basically two systems of education- formal and informal. Prevalent education system is said to be the formal and was introduced in the 19^th century, to produce administrators and interpreters. This type of education was based on abstract knowledge – that evolved in the western industrialised world. This system involves institutionalized teaching and learning in relation to a curriculum, which itself is established according to a predetermined purpose of the schools in the system. Formal education follows an academic discipline which is formally taught at the schools. Each discipline usually has several sub-disciplines or branches, and distinguishing lines are often both subjective and indistinct. Examples of broad areas of academic disciplines include the natural sciences, mathematics, computer science, social sciences, humanities and applied sciences etc. Human societies all across the globe have developed rich sets of experiences and explanations relating to the environments they live in. These ‘other knowledge systems’ are referred to as informal, traditional ecological knowledge or indigenous or local knowledge. Indigenous knowledge is the local knowledge that is unique to a culture or society. This knowledge is passed from generation to generation, usually by word of mouth and cultural rituals, and has been the basis for agriculture, food preparation, health care, education, conservation and the wide range of other activities that sustain societies in many parts of the world. Some of these are as follows:

• Sustainability through Culture: Indigenous communities have lived in harmony with the environment and have developed enormous volumes of knowledge over the centuries by directly interacting with the environment, like knowledge about the soil, climate, water, forest, wildlife, minerals etc. in the locality. Indigenous knowledge shaped their values and attitudes towards environment, which have guided their actions and made them sustainable. Therefore, indigenous knowledge can help to develop sensitive and caring values and attitudes and, thereby, promote a vision of a sustainable future.
• Learning, Attitudes and Values for a better future: Indigenous knowledge is practiced in various forms, such as traditions, customs, folk stories, folk songs, folk dramas, legends, proverbs, myths, etc. These cultural items as resources in schools can be very effective in bringing indigenous knowledge alive for the students. It would allow them to conceptualise places and issues not only in the local area but also beyond their immediate experience. Students will already be familiar with some aspects of indigenous culture and, therefore, may find it interesting to learn more about it through these cultural forms. It would also enable active participation as teachers could involve students in collecting folk stories, folk songs, legends, proverbs, etc., that are retold in their community.
• Imparting Knowledge across Generations: In view of its potential value for sustainable development, it is necessary to preserve indigenous knowledge for the benefit of future generations. Perhaps the best way to preserve indigenous knowledge would be the integration of indigenous knowledge into the school curriculum. This would encourage students to learn from their parents, grandparents and other adults in the community, and to appreciate and respect their knowledge.
• Passing the knowledge from the ‘Known’ to ‘Unknown’: The philosophy of ‘from the known to the unknown’ should be adopted if education is to be effective. Therefore, it is wise to start with the knowledge about the local area which students are familiar with, and then gradually move to the knowledge about regional, national and global environments. Indigenous knowledge can play a significant role in education about the local area.
• Learning outside the classroom: Students can learn much from fieldwork in the local area. This calls for some prior knowledge and understanding. Moreover, this can help the students in heading towards sustainability. For instance, to be able to understand the relationship between indigenous people, soils and plants, students need to identify the plants and soil types in the local area. One way to get a preliminary knowledge of plants and soil types in the local environment is to consult indigenous people and invite them to teach your students in the field.

Formal education systems have disrupted the aforesaid practical aspects of knowledge and ways of learning, replacing them with conceptual and academic ways of learning. Today, there is a grave risk that much practical knowledge is being lost and, along with it, valuable knowledge about ways of living sustainably. Hence, there is a dire need of introducing indigenous means of education in our system. But, we cannot completely get away with the formal system and shift to the indigenous system, as the present generation may find it difficult to adjust to such a system. Moreover, the children today are internet savvy and in this modern era of gadgets they will not be able to acclimatize to a pure indigenous system. So, keeping in view the need of the hour and sustainability of our education system, it is important that both these systems should be integrated for a successful execution of knowledge as well as traditions.