Include secular ethics in school curriculum: Dalai Lama

Excelsior Correspondent
Leh, July 15: Love, compassion, forgiveness and respect for others are the basic teachings of every religion and a compassionate individual will lead to a compassionate society which in turn will result in compassionate humanity and this sense of oneness among all generated  primarily through education will ensure more peace, harmony and development by the end of 21st century.
This was stated by Dalai Lama while addressing the special session of General Council meeting of LAHDC, Leh in the Assembly Hall, Council Secretariat here today.
In his address, Dalai Lama laid great emphasis on imparting complete education with inclusion of moral ethics entirely based on secular ethics, ancient Indian tradition befitting to modern and multi-religious pluralistic societies. Talking about his present work on bringing a book on secular ethics, he advised Ladakh to start with an experiment of including secular ethics in school curriculum on some pilot basis before taking it to the rest of the schools after showing satisfactory results.
He said that education is the proper way to transform society more peacefully and harmoniously because through education awareness, moral principle, respect for others and sense of oneness can be generated among the people thus transforming self-centered attitude into more warm hearted nature and more happiness for all beings.
The Tibetan spiritual leader said that a culture shows the uniqueness and identity of a particular region or community, and strongly stressed upon the preservation of cultural heritage and scripted language which is an integral part of one’s culture. He also talked about equality citing example of black and white races and the hardliner communists and said that each of these communities has the opportunity to persevere for trust in each other.
Praising the initiative taken by LAHDC on having a vision document for future Ladakh, Dalai Lama stressed on its implementation in its true letter and spirit. Sense of responsibility, trust and cooperation were some of the values Dalai Lama highlighted while describing the role of public representatives. He shared his own experience of how he was able to bring about a change in the governance system in exiled Tibetan Govt. towards making it more participatory and democratic before retiring from active leadership.
CEC, LAHDC, Leh Rigzin Spalbar gave a brief overview of past 18 years of experience with LAHDC Leh in the development of this district, which has come about through years of hardship, struggle and sacrifices made by people of Ladakh.
DC Leh, Simrandeep Singh, calling the occasion a historic moment, promised that with blessings of Dalai Lama the entire fraternity of district administration resolve to deliver services with greater sincerity and dedication for the welfare of people of Ladakh.