In an interaction with Higher Education Review Magazine, Dr Suresh Prakash Mathur, Dean at Mewar University Chittorgarh shares his views and thoughts on the challenges that may arise when introducing moral and spiritual education into the college environment and also shares about the initiatives that should be taken to develop a culture of ethical leadership and social responsibility among students through moral and spiritual education

What are the benefits of integrating moral and spiritual education within the college environment?

Moral education inhabits the primary spot in the quality-oriented education structure of colleges and universities and also plays significantly in the promotion of comprehensive development of students' quality. Within the present social environment, there is a prevalent need and requirement for moral and social education in society as well.  It creates ethical values and establishes parameters for the betterment of the education system. The interlink age of moral values with the education system helps in rendering high-quality and sustainable qualifications. Moral values inculcate good habits in an individual and help him in becoming a respectable and responsible member of society. Higher education programmes consist of a lot of professional and technical skills; these skills need to be carried forward with ethical practices and high morality. Moral and spiritual education helps the student in the judgement of right and wrong means. It also develops the correct aptitude for accepting challenges and overcoming weaknesses.

What metrics or indicators are used to measure the effectiveness of moral and spiritual-centric education within the college?

The moral system of education indicates the quality of education rendered by high-level education institutes. These qualities comprise: social quality, delivered quality and perceived quality. Student’s performance throughout the year is a result of the knowledge perceived by him. The moral and spiritual enhancement in his intellectual progresses student’s year-round performance. This could be examined on the following basis: Student Achievement, Discipline Referrals, Attendance Rates, Overall ranks and Teacher Satisfaction. The above-mentioned indicators refer to the effectiveness and success of moral centric education system. These indicators can be measured on Liker’s Scale through the outcomes provided by a questionnaire or survey.

Enlighten us on the challenges that may arise when introducing moral and spiritual education into the college environment.

There is a wide tendency of dishonesty indifferences, impoliteness and intolerance among different people engaged in higher education. The lack of composition of accountabilities is the foremost lacuna as there are indifferent attitudes of employees to achieve the vision and target of the organization. The increasing trends and attitudes to earn more & more income among all the people in the entire organization. The family and social environment do not pay proper devotion to moral and spiritual inclinations.  There is an increasing inclination and competition to develop professionalism in different tasks. There is a lack of implementation of an ethical code of conduct.

How can we ensure that moral and spiritual education aligns with the overall academic goals and mission of the college?

Overall academic goals refer to the professional and technical learning of the student. It comprises academic accomplishments and laurels in the professional field. Moral values and spiritual learning is far ahead of this, it involves lifetime lessons and teachings. In life cycle progression as a student enters different phases of life he encounters many challenges and in order to deal with those the basic esprit required is morality and spirituality.

Education institutions must adopt teaching tool which encourages moral and ethical values, this can be applied through providing on-ground training for different subjects such as the use of agriculture tools, village tour, helping farmers in farms etc., aligning with different NGOs and learning how they work, volunteering different social causes, organising blood donation camps etc. and organising literacy programmes in villages

What initiatives should be taken to develop a culture of ethical leadership and social responsibility among students through moral and spiritual education?

The basic principle of ethical learning involves Honesty, Impartiality. Empathy. Teamwork and integrity. Ethical leadership is key to the success of any business. Some initiatives should be taken to develop a culture of ethical leadership, these measures could be the ability to maintain a balance between work and personal life, the ability to motivate others and work as a team, the ability to resolve grievances among each other without being partial to anybody, the ability to manage with competition while being simple, calm and grounded and the ability to develop positive environment.

Suggestive measures to uplift today’s teaching methodology.

Artificial intelligence is the most prominent tool which is being adopted by worldwide education institutes. It covers all the computer intelligence as well as human mind approaches. It delivers cognitive approaches, better learning attitudes, skills and knowledge & brainstorming.  In the education system, AI has implanted much technological advancement which has led to drastic upgradation in the education system.   AI has not only assisted education practitioners but also helped students in achieving vast success in their respective fields.