In response to the letter of February 20 'Children running tings in school', what we are witnessing in schools is symptomatic of the decline of moral values in society in general. The school is but a reflection of the wider society.

The fundamental change needed to address these chronic and pressing challenges in schools is to accept the premise that the end of education is character, not knowledge.

Education that seeks only to 'inform' rather than 'transform' is not true education, but rather book knowledge. Such education might help the individual to achieve worldly goals, but it will not develop the spiritual potential of the individual.

role of values-based education

Values-based education seeks to bring out inherent, unchanging values, such as truth, right action, peace, love and non-violence, which each child is born with. The process to draw out these values is called 'educare'.

Values can be integrated into every lesson or subject and gradually, a transformation will result in the student. Our natural state is peace, and loves flows freely from a heart at peace.

Tools of the past, such as corporal punishment, will have a temporary effect, but what is needed is a lasting solution. Hence, we need to promote solutions of 'source' and not 'force'. Source solutions are those which are derived from the heart.

Above all, however, success in this path is only possible if the teacher is an exemplar of the values that are being promoted to students.

not pipe dreams

The solutions outlined above are not to be considered pipe dreams, but are, in reality, being used in many schools throughout the world.

In a small African city called Ndola in Zambia, rowdy and unmanageable children were transformed by being exposed to education in human values, as described above. In a relatively short time, the school achieved top results in the country and was branded by the media as "The Miracle School of Zambia".

Today, those very 'rowdy' children are now exemplary teachers at the said school!

I am, etc.,

LALU N. VASWANI

siewibb@promotech.net

St Michael

Barbados