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As it enters the election year, the Modi government is set to roll out a ‘uniform’ and ‘Common Minimum Programme for Value Education ’ for implementation across India’s entire schooling system, in the 2019-20 academic session.The uniformity of Value Education imparted across schools will be ensured with a firm focus on ‘core Constitutional values’ and these have been identified as Justice, Equality, Fraternity and Liberty.In a bid to stay non-controversial, Value Education will focus on values enshrined in the Constitution and general concerns on compassion and respect for all persons, sources told ET.Students, teachers as well as schools will be assessed on Value Education through a non-marks based approach.The National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT) will mainly prepare these modules which , though not mandatory for any school board to follow, are expected to acquire a pan India effect on their own as a number of school boards go by NCERT textbooks.Junking the old school approach of a separate dedicated ‘Moral Science/Value Education’ class period, the union Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry is working on a Value Education framework that is built into every subject and syllabi through a Whole School Approach (WSA), ET has learnt.Value Education will be complemented by modules on Life Skills Education linked up with government’s flagship Ayushman Bharat as well as Experiential Learning.The government’s ‘roadmap’ on Value Education conceptualises it as a “planned effort by schools to nurture the core universal values held upmost by our Constitution’.“It would provide the required uniformity across the country and at the same time would be flexible enough to provide scope for variations for different types of schools”, says the roadmap.The NCERT will develop a Common Minimum Programme by August 2018 which will be pilot tested in some schools by September this year.Both- the teacher’s appraisal and the student’s report card will factor in value education and ‘outcomes’ will be measured through an assessment design that is ‘spiral and compulsory in nature’. Schools will further also be accredited on the basis of implementation of value education from 2019-20 session.The assessment of a teacher’s ‘outcome’ on value education will also be a criteria for the Teacher’s awards.The National Council of Teachers Education (NCTE) will, from July on, train teachers in value education components to “reaffirm their commitment” to promoting values amongst students and “uphold the core Constitutional values in their own lives and become effective facilitators to inculcate the same in their students”.Modules are also being prepared to attune school leadership to help build skills of “caring and pro-value attitudes” in the school environment. Community participation involving parents for value inculcation and partnerships with media houses to spread the message are planned, besides creating an online platform best practices.Life Skills Education or ‘health and wellness for school going adolescents’ will be implemented under the aegis of ‘Ayushman Bharat’ mission and be rolled out in the 115 Aspirational Districts in the first phase. Two periods in a block per week are planned on Life skills.Nine core Life Skills have been identified for the programme—Self-awareness, problem solving, decision making, critical thinking, creative thinking, empathy, communication, interpersonal relationship and managing emotions.Prevention and management of substance abuse, sexual and reproductive health, prevention of non communicable diseases, safe use of internet and social media behaviour, gender equality, safety and security against violence and injuries besides responsible citizenship will be built into the Life Skills programme.While no grades or marks will be awarded for Life skills in a student’s report card, there will be a descriptive narration of the student’s progress on the same. The National achievement Survey of NCERT will from 2019 also include Life skills assessment.Each school board will be advised to set up a Life Skills Cell which will be linked to a think tank -Life Skills Centre of Excellence to guide and support the implementation of life skill education.Resource material in both English and Hindi is being developed with experts from the Health and HRD ministries, civil society organisations as well United Nations agencies and his will be pre tested by teachers by mid-September.Experiential learning, which is already being rolled out gradually, will aim at taking the student beyond the confines of a textbook.Not to be treated as a subject but to be implemented from Class 1 on, the ELP as a pedagogy will help students learn through direct experiences and some of the activities cited are role play, group discussions, lab experiments, projects, internships, visits to farms, factories, post offices, museums, sports and yoga. An assessment framework for the same will be readied by September end.