SANKALP has been organising innovative and experimental programmes for integrating cultural and value inputs in the educational content and processes of the school educational system as a part of its project "Students and Teachers for Culture and Values in Education (STCVE)" in order to bridge the existing schism between the formal system of education and India's rich and varied cultural traditions as well as to develop a cultural perspective in education by enriching school curricula for cultivation of universal and national core values.
The programmes use Indian Classical Dances, Indian Classical Music, Visual Art, Theatre and Indigenous/Tribal/Folk Art as effective medium for the students and the teachers to promote, propagate and disseminate India’s vast and varied cultural tradition and ethos as well as to understand universal values of Truth (Satya), Righteous Conduct (Dharma), Peace (Shanti), Love (Prema) and Non-violence (Ahimsa); which are the mainstays of value-based education. These five core universal values respectively represent the five domains of human personality-intellectual, physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual ;and also are correspondingly correlated with the five major objectives of education, namely knowledge, skill, balance, vision and identity.
The programmes have also been meant to promote national core values to further strengthen and build up in students love and understanding of India’s natural and cultural heritage; to nurture in students an aesthetic approach based on perception of beauty and a perspective beyond immediate emotional or other passions; and to impart to the student’s personality a board-based approach that reflects values of secularism, nationalism and consciousness of their constructive role in the larger destiny of India.
SANKALP has been bestowed with unique distinction of being one among 4 NGOs (others being Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Auroville of Aurobindo Ashram and Interfaith), whose work on value education was found “very good” and “of particular interest” by the Government of India (Ministry of Human Resource Development) Committee, headed by Mr. Justice J.S. Verma, Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission and Former Chief Justice of India, set up to Operationalize the Suggestions to Teach Fundamental Duties to the Citizens of the Country for the purpose of documentation of work done by individuals, institutions, including NGOs on Value Education. The report of the committee was submitted on October 31st, 1999. The Justice Verma Committee included among others, Dr. Karan Singh and Dr. L.M. Singhvi.