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Evil Flourishes Where Morality EndsPublished:
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Sat Maharaj
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Sat Maharaj
Published:
Thursday, February 2, 2012
When there is a decline of morality in a society and good people
do nothing, evilflourishes. There is little debate that schools
provide the basic framework to build afoundation for moral
principles. Education is generally focused on three main
things:knowledge, skills and character. Character must be our
focus. Character refers to thetype of people the school produces.
If we ignore this and fail to teach character-buildingvalues and
morals in schools, we could be missing a great opportunity to
improve thesociety in which we live. Character education, although
not usually a specific topic, canbe achieved through a wide variety
of ways. While there is an abundance of material
from which to draw references to teach, the best way to instill
moral and ethical valuesamong our children is by modelling the
positive types of behaviours that are socially
acceptable.Children learn by imitating the adults around them.
The hidden curriculum in theschools supports this. The principal in
each school is entrusted to be the leader in allaspects, especially
in demonstrating a behaviour that is appropriate and acceptable
at
all times. The school leader must accept this responsibility and
be the hero/heroine ofthe school. Everything that he/she does and
everything that he/she says must be seenas a behaviour worthy of
imitation. A principal impacts on the lives of many including
fellow principals, teachers, parents and pupils. How the
principal behaves both in and
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out of office will help to shape the culture of that school. How
the principal dresses andpresents himself/herself in public, and
the manner in which he/she speaks to parents,
teachers and pupils could lead to results that are rewarding,
positive and progressive.When a principal commands the respect of
those around him/her, the institutionbenefits.
Teachers give their support unselfishly to such a principal.
Parents support the school
and there is a significant increase in positive parental
involvement. Children areprovided opportunities to imitate and
duplicate excellent behaviours. In a school
environment, children who witness parents speaking highly of the
school, the teachersand the principal and then come to class and
hear the teachers speak highly of theprincipal, are encouraged to
act and behave in a similar manner. The journey toestablishing and
maintaining a good school is not easy. There will be hurdles
andobstacles along the way and the principal can become ruffled. In
the course of doingones duty, conflicts will also arise.
Principals, who have a strong moral background will,
however, know the importance of keeping a cool head and dealing
with the mostsensitive issues in a discreet manner.The old adage of
washing ones dirty linen in public is an important guide. One
must
refrain from using devious tactics in pursuing a personal
agenda. Avoid fabricating
stories and creating false impressions, destroying relationships
among staff, causinggroups and cliques to be formed must be
avoided. A principal should be more
concerned in finding a way to settle differences without
affecting the progress of theinstitution. It may take a few weeks
to destroy good relationships but a lifetime to
rebuild them. When a school starts on a downward path and people
lose confidence inthe leadership, it takes a sustained effort over
a long period of time to rebuild and winback support. No principal
with strong convictions in morality will pursue such a course.The
institution is always bigger than the individual. A principal must
never ever seek apersonal agenda at the expense of the school. We
accept that teaching morality inschools does not always result in
good and honest children. We also accept the fact thatchildren,
like adults, may know the right thing but still end up doing the
wrong thing.As a denominational Board, we expect that the principal
must represent, demonstrate
and instill behaviours that are aligned to accepted behaviours.
There must be a senseof morality and he/she must work consistently
to maintain this. When a principal isrecommended for appointment by
a denominational Board, he/she is recognised as oneof the good
people who must instill a deep sense of morality through unselfish
actions
and behaviour. If the principal fails this duty and disappoints
the Board thatrecommended the appointment, then there will always
be other good people to preventtotal collapse of the
teaching/learning institution.
The purpose of a school is to produce children with strong
academic background andbehaviour based on moral and spiritual
teachings. The Maha Sabha education board ofmanagement insists that
a child must be exposed to both secular and sacred
knowledge. In Trinidad and Tobago, the denominational Boards are
anchored in theirreligionChristian, Hindu and Muslim. When the
Teaching Service Commission is asked
to adjudicate on the moral and spiritual behaviour of a
principal, it is based on theprinciples that guide and established
them in the first instance. We were surprised toread the recent
comments of one commissioner that represents only his own view
andshould not form part of the commissions measurement to judge a
principal on moraland spiritual misbehaviour. Satnarayan Maharaj is
the secretary general of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha
Columnist
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