A value signifies that quality of an individual or things which makes an individual or things important, respectable and useful. But from philosophical and educational point of view, values signify neither a thing nor an individual, but a thought on a point of view. As such, anything which is useful to an individual becomes valuable to them. From this view, values refer to objects that we cherish or desires and worthy of acquisition. These may be material objects like food, clothing, shelter etc. and abstract qualities like truth, beauty, goodness, peace, happiness etc. These values have intrinsic worth for human beings. “In case of human beings, the values differ from society to society. What is regarded by one social group as good may be bad in the eyes of the others. Yet there are certain moral qualities or abstract values viz, honesty, kindness, benevolence, generosity, truthfulness, goodwill etc which are regarded good by almost all the human societies still there may be differences in this respect as well”. (Sharma, 2006).

Values are firmly ingrained in Indian philosophy and culture. The Vedas and Upanishads speak widely on values. Value based education imparts social, moral, integrity, character, spirituality and more. It builds the qualities of humility, strength and honesty in a person. People with high ethical values will never cheat others. These gems make their life happier and work hard to make others happy too.

Education at schools today has reduced to a bread and butter formula. A profit minded educational institution can be perceived as harmfully shaking the very basis of value based education. Value education is considered not simply the heart of education, but also the education of the heart. It is a necessary component of holistic citizenship education. Value education has been globally perceived as an answer to the challenge of strengthening moral and social fabrics of societies. The central idea behind value education is to develop essential values among the students that teaches them to manage complexities that can be continued and further developed.

The aim of educational strategies for value-oriented education is to develop total personality, to make the child aware of the societal norm values, to feel the proper emotions and to internalize values in words and deeds, to develop moral, aesthetic, cultural and spiritual values among children. “Actually, there is no need to preach and teach values to the youngsters. Once they understand these basic values, the relevance of these will be self evident. The child has to appreciate all that truthful, beautiful and good and discard things and behavior which are undesirable” (Kalra, 2003). ”In order to enable the students to understand and appreciate the values of democracy, secularism, equality and scientific attitude, a child should develop the habits like truthfulness, punctuality, honesty etc. Educational professionals, teachers and teacher educators who understand the present educational need have suggested the inclusion of certain aspects for emphasising the need to develop key qualities like regularity, punctuality, cleanliness, self control, industriousness, willingness to serve creativity, sensitivity to equality, fraternity and other. This is a treasure that India has discovered in spirituality, dharma, knowledge and wisdom long ago but still remains untapped and unused. Children surely deserve an education rooted in the composite culture of the country, which is committed to progress”. (Mukhopadhyay, 2003). Teachers are the protector and maintainer of our culture. “A teacher must demonstrate those values in which he or she believes. In order to discuss the values related questions in the class, it is imperative to have a better understanding of human growth. Class rooms and schools should organise proper environment for our children to develop some of the following qualities: trust, patience, honesty, flexibility, understanding self respect, respect for others” (Kalra, 2003). So, value education through the schools is a vital ingredient required to develop a strong moral basis to a student's life and to give them opportunity of doing well on the world. “Schools were to prepare citizens of a new global society a non violent society and teach children to live on the basis of cooperation, truth and ahimsa” (Mukhopadhyay, 2003). Thus, it surely promises to develop character and morality in children. So, through this, a school encourages the students to become progressive and responsible citizens in their personal and social life, to make them liberal in thought and practice, to develop right attitude towards self, society, religions etc.

The method of imparting value-oriented education is through curricular and co curricular activities, direct and indirect methods in schools. The direct methods such as separate periods are allotted in the timetable in classroom, the teachers can explain values through stories, real life situations etc. The indirect method is through curricular and co curricular activities. In curricular activities, SUPW programmes in school develop value and love for manual work. Co-curricular activities, NCC, game, sports, NSS, Junior Red Cross, Boys Scouts, Girls Guides, field trips, study tour, etc., will create the values like cooperation, team spirit, fellow feeling, tolerance, democratic living, secularism, etc.

“Values influence every aspect of educational process, technique, policy and procedure. Educationist intimately related to dominating values. A dominating value, however, does imply a constellation of contributing values. It is the dominating value with its constellation of contributing values which conditions the aim content and the direction of educational programme” (Taneja, 2008). Value based education, is a part of the educational programme which cannot be shelved or done away with. It has to be a part of life and life is a constant education and the process of living is a process of learning. Some moral principles that we agree are, “One ought not to take another human's life. One ought not to wilfully injure or inflict suffering on harmless victims. One ought to alleviate suffering, one ought to keep promises, one ought not to lie, one ought to be free to say and do what one wants, one ought to treat others fairly etc.... The teacher or instructor has a responsibility to promote a sense of worthwhile among students.” (Mohanty, 2005). In this way, valueoriented manpower in our country has to be increased through education. It will certainly increase the development of a country. In the classical school of economic doctrine, Adam Smith, who not only advocated art as a pre requisite for division of labour and for increasing stock of earnings but also strongly emphasised the need of education for the moral and civic peace. (Veena, 1988).

Life is day by day, becoming complex and complicated. “Children around the world are increasingly affected by violence, growing social problems and a lack of respect for each other. Parents and educators in many countries are seeking solutions to this alarming trend” (Tillman, & Hsu, 2003). Crisis is a character and losses of values are reflected now in every spheres of human life. Standards of moral and social ethics in family, society, politics, personal etc are gradually declining. “Of all the countries in the world, we in, India have the richest cultural and spiritual heritage but it is a sad irony of fate that ever since we attained independence, we have been denying to the youth of this country even the barest opportunity to imbibe the great, moral, cultural and spiritual values that form part of this heritage by imposing a taboo on all moral and spiritual instructions in the educational institutions on the name of secularism” (Ruhela, 1990). Today our schools are concentrating on delivering academic achievement to the students and less concentration is given to their personal behaviour. The attitude of today's young generation made the investigators think twice that the implementation of values and moral is must for the youth.

Many people believe that the only remedy for all maladies in the society, is the imparting of high ideas and values in human. “Values not only help a man in self evaluation, but also in self drive. An educated man without values has thoughts which never flow into action. Values impart significance to life and meaning to death. Without values, life becomes a series of meaningless events and death a shattering experience” (Ruhela, 1990). Education best serve this purpose. If the future is to be saved from crisis, value oriented education to children is the best possible way. Tremendous explosion of knowledge in science and technology has changed the life style of people. The world today faces so many threatening problems. In such a circumstance, awakening of moral consciousness is the need of the hour. It would enable the youth, how to use science and technology for peace and prosperity of mankind. “The role and objectives of education for the next century which will the rise of planetary civilization and a new world order, more human and harmonious, respecting the dignity and sanctity of human personality and contribute to the advancement of liberty, equity and fraternity in the functioning of society”, (Kirpal, 1992). So, value education should find a place in the curriculum for the development of human consciousness in order to live happily in the complex and complicated society. “Values are oriented towards cleansing, disciplining and restraining people's behaviour and purge society from socioeconomic, politico-cultural–religious-gender bias. The social codes, such as do's and don'ts namely desirable- undesirable, good-bad, lawful-unlawful, moral-immoral pious-wicked, right-wrong and the like are important. All the negative actions are condemned as antihuman while positive actions are propagated as essential ingredients to build and nurture healthy societies. Only when society is instilled with these positive elements, true national integration and creation of universal brotherhood could emerge.” (Seetaramu,1999). So, de-culturalization, de humanization and alienation should be, by all means be avoided. Therefore, immediate effort must be made through education to develop values in the students to realise their full potential and to develop self confidence.

“It is not enough for children to hear about values. To really learn they must experience them at different levels making them their own. And it is not enough to feel experience and think about the values, social skills are needed to be able to use values throughout the day. The youngsters of today increasingly need to be able to see the effects of their behaviour and choices and be able to develop socially conscious decision making skills” (Tillman & Hsu, 2003). The educational commission (1964-1966) and the National Policy on Education (NPE-1986) stressed the importance of value-oriented education in our country.

The Ramamurthy Committee Report (1990) recommends that imparting value education should be an integral part of the entire educational process. Value education makes the youth powerful. They contribute a great deal to the national reconstruction and national development. “All teachers are encouraged to incorporate some values explorations into regular curriculum. History, social science lessons ask students to recognise and discuss the application of a particular consequence due to the lack of that value” (Tillman, 2003). “It is the duty of every rightthinking citizens interested in the future of this country and in the preservation of our great cultural heritage to extend the fullest co operation for the successful implementation of such a programme of introduction of value oriented education” (Ruhela, 1990). Even though we have to give importance to values, we should give importance to a child and have to provide better opportunities to their progress too. “As values are not fixed, it is hoped that the next generation will find better solutions to their problems than we have done. Values being tentative and reconstruction of experiences having no definite direction, the child rather than the subject matter takes the centre of the stage” (Hollins, 1970). So, society needs a value oriented education for its development along with the development of a child. “Present society needs a moral, more sustaining order in every sphere of life to have a firm foundation for further human progress. School education touches the chord of ethical conduct of children as it plays a vital role in the inculcation of right values. This will stand them in good stead as they grow up. As adults, they can practice the values in social life which they imbibed at a formative stage. Hence, value education should be the primary concern of teacher preparation because a teacher has the responsibility of shaping children thoughts which decide their behaviour, and actions later on in their life” (Dasari, 2017).

Mathew (2006) conducted a study on imperatives and dimensions of value education in a multicultural society. He, through his study emphasised to give a picture that how our educational system gives an idea about and how far we are successful in making value education successful.

Anwar (2015) conducted a study on Learning Value at Senior High School Al-Kautsar Lampung for the Formation of Character. In this, he noted that as the globalisation process went very quickly, students in public schools and private are deviating from values of religious and moral values such as the brawl between students, pornography played by students, abuse of narcotics and drugs as well as delinquency in the streets. Even though if it is so, the institution is still oriented towards science alone and less emphasised on the attitudes and behaviours. The study aims to reveal the value of the learning process in the neighbourhood of Al-Kautsar Lampuring high school for students of character formation.

Zakirova and Shamigulova (2016) conducted a study on content and methodological formation model of younger pupil value oriented attitude to reality based on historical and social science knowledge. The objective of the study was to describe and analyse the results of a conceptual and methodological model implementation which is based on historical and social science knowledge for the purpose of formation of value oriented attitude to reality among younger people. The conceptual and methodological model of the value oriented attitude to reality formed on historical and social science knowledge among younger pupils was discussed and explained in the paper forming conditions of a value-oriented attitude to reality based on historical and social science knowledge among younger pupils were revealed from the pedagogic point of view taking into account pupils' most sensitive personal development period for pedagogic influence and reality apprehension. Dasari (2017) conducted a survey on value system and value preferences of prospective teachers of secondary school schools. The study examined the value system and value preferences of the prospective teachers. A sample of 330 pre-service teachers B.Ed. programme were randomly selected, and Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) was adopted for the study. The study revealed that the prospective teachers were self oriented towards the end state of their existence showing their inclination towards freedom, comforts, and friendship. However, it was found that their modes of conduct were much oriented towards hard working nature with duty consciousness and open-mindedness. The study suggested that the curriculum and instruction should provide necessary inputs into theory and practical work to make preservice teachers realize the importance of values of equality, peace, self-respect, and honesty.

Pesando (2018) conducted a study on whether financial literacy increase student's perceived value of schooling. In this paper, the author investigates whether financial literacy skills play a role in shaping the value that high school students place on schooling. Results of the study showed that OLS and IV estimates suggest that higher financial literacy increases perceived value of schooling by boosting their time commitment to education. Conversely there is no evidence that financial literacy shapes students' attitude towards school.

The investigator, from the reviews found that there was scarcity of research in the perception of values by the students in secondary school level. Hence, the investigators conducted this research to contribute in the field of education.

2.1 Definition of Key Terms

The key terms included in the title of the study are as defined as follows:

2.1.1 Perception

Collins Dictionary (n.d) defines perception as, the act of perceiving or the ability to perceive; mental grasp of objects, qualities etc., by means of the senses; awareness; comprehension.

Here, perception means how the secondary school students view certain programmes in their schools.

2.1.2 Values

'The dictionary meaning of the word values is something that has worth, utility and importance. From a historical point of view, a value may be defined as a thing which is good. Operationally, the concept of values may be defined as factors which affect human behaviour. Intellectually, value may be defined as a concept which is accepted by the subconscious mind is understood by all ad perceived by the individual' (Kalra, 2003). Here, the values are honesty, kindness, benevolence, generosity, truthfulness, goodwill, humility etc which are perceived by the secondary school students from various programmes conducted at schools.

2.1.3 Value Oriented Education

“Religious, philosophical and ideological aspects of culture are considerable as values the guiding social aims and religious beliefs of people are ideas they think worthwhile of which they attach values” (Gosh, n.d.)

Here, it is the programme launched by the teachers as a part of curricular, co-curricular and extracurricular activities such as SUPW, NCC, games, sports, NSS, Junior Red Cross, Boy's Scouts, Girl's Guides, field trips, study tour, etc., in order to inculcate and pertain values among students. It imparts values such as honesty, kindness, benevolence, generosity, truthfulness, goodwill, humility, etc., in a person.

2.1.4 Secondary School Students

Secondary school students are those students who are studying in VIII, IX and X at state level, ICSI and CBSE Schools.

Here secondary school students are, those students who are studying in VIII, IX and X of government and private schools with age group of 13-16.

• To find out the level of perception of value oriented programmes among the secondary school students.
• To find out whether there are any differences in perception of value oriented programmes with reference to gender, age and type of school.

Based on the objectives, the hypothesis are the following

• The perception of value-oriented programmes among the secondary school students is average.
• There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to gender.
• There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to age.
• There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to type of school.

5.1 Method

Survey is conducted for collection of data for perception of value oriented programmes among secondary students.

5.2 Population

Population includes secondary school students studying at Attingal District under Deputy Director of Education, Trivandrum.

5.3 Samples

The samples were 302 secondary school students from VIII, IX and X of Attingal Educational District.

5.4 Tools

The tool adopted here was “Rating scale on Perception of Value Oriented Programmes among Secondary School Students” developed by the investigators which includes 36 questions containing five alternatives.

5.5 Statistical Technique

Statistical techniques involved here were percentage analysis, t-test and ANOVA.

The present study has following delimitations.

• The study mainly concentrated on secondary schools only
• The study selected only 302 students as samples.
• The sample is taken only from Attingal Educational District.

7.1 Hypothesis Using Percentage Analysis

Hypothesis 1: The perception of value oriented programme among the secondary school students is average.

The percentage analysis of perception of value oriented programme on a sample of 302 secondary school students is given in Table 1.

From Table 1, the percentage analysis of 302 secondary school students, showed that 40.73% students have only low level of perception of value oriented programme, 30.79 % students have average level of perception of value oriented programme and 28.47% students have high level of perception of value oriented programme. Hence, the hypothesis 1, “The perception of value oriented programme among the secondary school students is average” is rejected. From Table 1, it is evident that perception of value oriented programmes among secondary school students is low.

Table 1. Data and Result of Percentage Analysis: Percentage Analysis of Perception of Value Oriented Programmes Among Secondary School Students

7.2 Hypothesis Testing Using T-test

Hypothesis 2: There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to gender.

The difference between male and female students in their perception of value oriented programme was found using t-test on a sample of 302 secondary school students in 12 schools. The result is shown in Table 2.

From Table 2, the calculated t- value was 6.403 which was greater than table value 1.97 at 0.05 level. Therefore, Hypothesis 2 “There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to gender” was rejected. From Table 2, it was found that the mean scores of female students (68.35) showed more perception of value oriented programme than male students (65.56). So female students showed more perception of value oriented programmes than male students.

Table 2. Data and Results of T-test: Comparison of Male and Female Students in their Perception of Value Oriented Programme

7.3 Hypothesis Testing Using ANOVA

7.3.1 Comparison of Perception of Value Oriented Programme with Reference to Age

Hypothesis 3: “There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to age”.

The significant difference among the age group 13-14, 14- 15 and 13-15 of secondary school students in their perception of value-oriented programmes were found using ANOVA on a sample of 302 secondary school students shown in Table 3.

The F value presented in Table 3 revealed that there existed significant difference among three groups of 13, 14, and 15 age group in secondary school students for their perception of value-oriented programmes. Since the calculated F value (3.389) was greater than the table value (3.05) for 2, 299 degrees of freedom at 0.05 level significance. On the basis of the results given in Table 3, Hypothesis-3, “There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to age” was rejected. This means that there existed significant difference in perception of value oriented programme with reference to age. Hence it is analyzed further in Tables 4, 5 and 6 for finding out the significant difference between the groups.

Table 3. Data and Results of ANOVA: Secondary School Students in their Perception of Value Oriented Programmes with reference to Age

Table 4. Data and Results of t-test: Comparison of Age Group of Students in their Perception of Value Oriented Programme

Table 5. Data and Results of t-test: Comparison of Age Group of Secondary School Students in their Perception of Value Oriented Programme

Table 6. Data and Results of t-test: Comparison of Age Group of Students in their Perception of Value Oriented Programme

From Table 4, the calculated t-value was 6.225 which was greater than table value 1.97 at 0.05 level. Therefore, Hypothesis 3 “There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to age” was rejected. From the Table 4, it was found that the mean scores of 14 aged students (70.26) showed more perception of value oriented programme than that of 13 aged students (64.25). So 14 age group students showed higher perception of value oriented programmes than that of 13 aged students.

From Table 5, the calculated t- value was 3.189 which was greater than table value 1.97 at 0.05 level. Therefore, Hypothesis 3 “There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to age” was rejected. From Table 5, it was found that the mean scores of 15 aged students (67.25) showed more perception of value oriented programme than that of 13 aged students (64.25). So 15 age group students showed higher perception of value oriented programmes than that of 13 aged students.

From Table 6, the calculated t-value was 1.062 which was lesser than that table value 1.97 at 0.05 level. Therefore, Hypothesis 3 “There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to age” was accepted. From Table 6, it was found that the mean scores of 14 and 15 age group students showed no difference in perception of value oriented programmes.

7.3.2 Comparison of Perception of Value Oriented Programme with Reference to Type of School

Hypothesis 4: There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to type of school.

The significant difference among the type of school such as aided- government, government-private and aided-private secondary school students in their perception of value oriented programmes were found using ANOVA on a sample of 302 secondary school is shown in Table 7.

The F value presented in Table 7 revealed that there existed significant difference among three groups of aided-government, government-private and aided-private of secondary school students in their perception of value oriented programmes. Since the calculated F value (3.548) was greater than the table value (3.05) for 2,299 degrees of freedom at 0.05 level significance. On the basis of the results given in Table 7, Hypothesis-4, “There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to age” was rejected. This means that there existed significant difference in perception of value-oriented programme with reference to type of school. Hence it is analyzed further in Tables 8, 9 and 10 for finding out the significant difference between the groups.

Table 7. Data and Results of ANOVA: Secondary School Students in their Perception of Value Oriented Programmes with reference to Age

Table 8. Data and Results of t-test: Comparison of Aided- Government Schools of Secondary School Students in their Perception of Value Oriented Programme

Table 9. Data and Results of t-test: Comparison of Government- Private Schools of Secondary School Students in their Perception of Value Oriented Programme

Table 10. Data and Results of t-test: Comparison of Aided-private Schools of Secondary School Students in their Perception of Value Oriented Programme

From Table 8, the calculated t-value was 6.458 which was greater than that of the table value 1.97 at 0.05 level. Therefore, Hypothesis 4 “There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to type of school” was rejected. From Table 8, it was found that the mean scores of government school students (72.32) showed more perception of value oriented programme than that of aided school students (69.35). So government school students showed greater perception of value oriented programmes than that of aided school students.

From Table 9, the calculated t-value was 2.393 which was greater than that of the table value 1.97 at 0.05 level. Therefore, Hypothesis 4 “There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to type of school” was rejected. From Table 9, it was found that the mean scores of government school students (72.32) showed more perception of value oriented programme than that of private school students (70.23). So government school students showed greater perception of value oriented programmes than that of private school students.

From Table 10, calculated t-value was 0.9621 which was lower than that of table value 1.97 at 0.05 level. Therefore, Hypothesis 4 “There is no significant difference in the mean scores of perception of value oriented programme with reference to type of school” was accepted. This means that aided school and private schools showed no difference in the perception of value oriented programmes.

Major findings showed that perception of value oriented programmes among secondary school students is low and this may be due to the fact that curriculum and syllabus do not specify value oriented programmes. Female students showed significant difference in their perception of value oriented programmes than that of male students since girls are living in value restricted atmosphere both in family as well as in society, which will pursue them to perceive value oriented education more than that of male students. Students with age group of 14 and 15 showed higher value perception of value oriented programmes than that of 13 aged students and students with age group of 14 and 15 showed no difference in their perception of value oriented programmes. This may be due to the fact that 13 age group students is in their transitional stage of adolescence and they play more with their friends during this stage than concentrating on perception of values. Also found that government school students showed greater perception of value oriented programmes than that of aided and private school students and aided school and private schools showed no difference in the perception of value oriented programmes. Secondary school students in government sector have high perception of value oriented programmes since teachers create deep friendship with students and they transact good ideologies in a better way than the strict disciplined students in private schools. It may also be due to the fact that government is imparting value oriented education to the students through various means.

Implications of the Study

To the Teachers

• Provide periodical lecturing on current deterioration of values among secondary students by quoting incidents and should give suggestions to improve.
• Subject teachers by interdisciplinary approach should convey the importance of values in educational field.
• Teachers must be given special charge to convey value-oriented programmes to students in secondary level

To the Government Authorities

• Department of Human Resource Development should support value oriented programmes among secondary schools.
• Curriculum should be reformulated in such a way to provide value-oriented education among secondary students.