Bhubaneswar: Higher Education Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo on Saturday released the first book on ‘Ethics & Values’ that has since been approved by the Board of Studies of all universities across the State at the undergraduate level.
Odisha State Higher Education Council (OSHEC) is the nodal authority as far as this new course is concerned.
This course addresses life issues and hence, is one of the courses that require a practical interface of theory and real-life situations.
Therefore, it has been prepared for the undergraduate curriculum as an Ability Enhancement Compulsory Course module. The entire course is divided in to six units (six credits); 1 unit of 1 credit (15 classes) to be taught in each semester for all the streams and disciplines. Each unit addresses a specific social issue that has a great relevance to shaping ethics and values in young minds.
Unit wise books will be made available in hard copy format as well as in freely downloadable format in OSHEC (https://oshec.nic.in) as well as https: //vtputkal.odisha.gov.in sites.
Video lectures are also prepared which will be made available as freely downloadable video lectures at the same sites.
Notably, introduction of the course has been a long-standing desire of the State Government.
Initiated during a number of brainstorming sessions of the Odisha State Higher Education Council (OSHEC) with esteemed academicians of the state, the idea was to demonstrate the concept of contemporary ethics and value system to our students through analysis of few selected examples of social, personal and professional conflicts that confront the youth in their daily lives.
Since the course was visualized as a compulsory course for all disciplines, it was to be dealing with practical aspect of ethics and value systems applicable to day-to-day life and decisions.
The sole objective is to develop an awareness and sensitivity in the students in relation to their interactions with the society at large and to empower them to distinguish good from evil, justice from injustice, fair practice from unfair practice as well as motivating them to internalize their duties, obligations, and rights as responsible citizens.