V-Set Value Month Program(VMP)

“Living a life of good character is not normally reflected in your report card in school but it will be reflected in your report card of life.”

In Life education, the question is no longer "Why?" or "Whose?" or "Which?" or even "What?" The question is "How?"
How can our school ensure humanness in student’s behavior? How can we effectively communicate the values of our school and the behaviors those values necessitate? How can we encourage students to make good decisions and right choices? How can we guide our teachers and staff so that their actions and decisions are ones that we can stand behind--even certify?

The answer is here in the form of Value Month Program:

V-Set Value Month program facilitates schools to take up each of the value every month for discussion and practice.

• The implementation of values in the school will be effective if it can be discussed by all the teachers in all the periods for a few minutes apart from academic subject.
• By implementing Value Month Program schools will be free from negative influences and Violent behaviours.
• The school will take up one central theme each month across the classes
i.e., the key value would work through the selected values across the classes.
• For an entire month, in the whole school every teacher in every class in every section focuses on the value of the month though out the month.
• The class leader will take the lead and form the groups for VMP viz., Truth, Joy, Peace and Kindness. Each group can think of creative ideas around the value of the month like stories/incidents/song/skit/painting/quote etc. The teacher can motivate each group to do some activity on the value.
• Student leaders write on the class black board value of the month theme. Every teacher visiting in the class will question or talks or inspire students for a few minutes. Students are invited to generate an activity, event or experience involving students and teachers that celebrate and promote values.
• For an entire month, the whole school every teacher at every class and in every section same value example – Humaneness – related values Managing anger, facing insult etc.
• Teachers talk to their students about the value of the month making connections, for example, with classroom incidents that arise or some personal experience.
• Students also bring in paper cuttings or articles that tell about a person or incident that exemplifies the value.
• V-Set is happy to share its experiences on Value Month if contacted through
e-mail: india@vset.org

Experience of a Principal:
Principal Mr Thomas spoke about the impact this Value of the Month program had in a previous school where he worked:
“Before coming to this school, I was principal in a school where stealing was an everyday occurrence when I first arrived. The attitude among students was that it was okay to steal as long as you didn't get caught. There was also a problem of kids being intimidated for their lunch money. I said to the faculty, "How can we change this?" We selected core value to teach, one each month. We started with honesty. As time went on, kids started turning in money they found on the playground. Intimidation became less and less of a problem. By the end of our second year with the program, stealing was a very rare event at this school.”

Values Month is an opportunity for students and teachers to celebrate and promote values in education and life.