Children are mostly affected by societal changes they adapt everything rapidly and believe in social interaction and learn new things from their surroundings. Their social development has always been the focal point of interest for everyone; however their moral development is often ignored. The moral development of children begins from their schools. When children socialize with their age group and family members, they learn moral values and ethics. They develop strong sense of fairness and take rational decision making and practice the same in their daily routine lives. The moral nature of children is based on imitation. They are good observers and follow others. Many external and internal factors may also affect children personality. Personality traits and many other psychological factors deeply influence their moral reasoning skills. In the presence of morality, their decisions will be in a proper flow, which can help in maintaining healthy relations with society and adjust them parallel to societal changes. Failing to foster ethical and moral grooming may led to social detachment.
The role of teachers in this regard is important, Social institutions and morning assembly regularly contribute for the moral development of children. One of the most important social institution, which is considered as the basis of moral grooming of child’s personality is school. School is the place where children spend most of their time after home. The educational institutions are responsible for providing ethical training to the students. It makes evident that through social interaction in school their moral development is highly influenced and directed. School environment in this regard is very important. The way teacher interacts, the background of the classmates, the tactics teachers use to deal with students, the codes and rules, school connectedness, ethics, curriculum, all lead to harmonizing moral development. Society is constantly changing and its impact can be seen from the behavior and attitude of children. Social crimes such as abuses, robbery, and use of drugs, bullying, and dishonoring parents have increased in the recent years. In this regard, it is very crucial to find, how moral development is shaped among the school going children’s and how society and educational institutions promote ethical practices and contribute for the moral development of students through morning assembly with moral lessons.
( The author is a teacher at Government Middle School Hayatpora Chadoora, Budgam. Views are her own [email protected])