Peace and Tolerance - Value Education Discourse in India (2015)

The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.(Rabindranath Tagore, 1917. p. 116-17)As Rabindranath Tagore suggested, the greatest goal of education is to help individuals to live in harmony with self and with others. Peace has emerged as the most dominant value in the latest national education policy documents. It was found that the value discourse in National Curriculum Frameworks has undergone major transitions. In post independent times, the need to develop patriotism was realized. As a result, the earliest National Curriculum Framework 'Curriculum for the Ten Year School' (1975) differentiated democratic, spiritual and moral values. The value discourse discussed the importance of values like 'compassion, endurance, courage, decision-making, resourcefulness, respect for others, team spirit, truthfulness, faithfulness, loyalty, duty and common good' (p. 5).In 1988, the second National Curriculum Framework was published. This document discussed value education in detail. The purpose of value education was still to promote national pride, foster national integration. The values promoted were of a universal kind like 'honesty, truthfulness, courage, conviction, straightforwardness, fearlessness, tolerance, love for justice, dependability, compassion' (NCF 1988, p. 5). It was assumed that development of universal values would undoubtedly foster the feelings of national unity and patriotism.The third National Curriculum Framework was proposed in 2000. Like NCF 1988, NCF 2000 also promoted the universal values of love, peace, non-violence and righteous conduct for developing national integration. The latest National Curriculum Framework was presented in 2005. The NCF 2005 attempted to promote democratic values in general and 'peace' as the dominant value. It was noticed that the nature of values have changed from moral-spiritual values to universal values to democratic values since 1975. With respect to peace, shifts in its understanding were also found. In NCF 1975 and NCF 1988, understanding of peace was limited to its importance for international relations. It was considered as a political condition rather than as value. In NCF 2000, peace was considered as a core universal value. NCF 2005 prioritized peace as the most desirable value.Within the context of these transitions regarding the understanding of peace, the present study was conducted with the aim of considering the present concept of 'peace' as value. To achieve this, the Foucauldian discourse analysis was performed on NCERT documents. The NCERT documents which were taken as data were: (i) National Curriculum framework 2005; (ii) NCERT position paper on 'Education for Peace'. These National curriculum documents form part of a major education discourse. Foucault argued that there exists a symbiotic relationship between power and discourse. Discourse is what constrains yet enables writing, speaking and thinking about any discursive and practice within specific limits of time and space.It was found that incorporating 'peace' as value is influenced by the United Nation NCF 2005 and 'Education for peace'. These construct peace as a value framework which is based on the foundational values of equality, justice and tolerance or harmonious coexistence. Though the importance of equality and justice is underlined in both the documents for developing peace, there exists confusion with regard to 'tolerance' as a foundational value for peace.NCF 2005 proposes that in order to live in a culturally diverse society, mere tolerance is not sufficient (p. 7). In fact, 'tolerance' could be a problematic goal since it has many negative connotations. NCF 2005 states:India is a multicultural society made up of numerous regional and local cultures... Understanding human evolution should make it clear that the existence of distinctiveness in our country is a tribute to the special spirit of our country, which allowed it to flourish. …