Character building main objective of education - CJ
The Chief Justice J.A.N. de Silva said the main objective of
education should be the building of character which involves the
inculcation of discipline.
The Chief Justice who was the Chief Guest at the annual prize giving
of S. Thomas' Preparatory School, Kollupitiya said the first persons who
can teach discipline are the parents. If the parents have a proper
religious background that will help them to put their children on the
correct path. Discipline is essential to build a free and prosperous
society.
The Chief Justice said: "We must also educate parents with the basic
qualities of love and affection. The child first discovers love in his
home before he travels outside his home to his school, university or
work place. He said the end of three decade old war that divided our
country has created a reasonable expectation that we would be able to
reach reconciliation and healing that would lead to rapid economic
progress. "I sincerely hope that Sri Lanka will begin to provide the
atmosphere and circumstances which will help each individual to grow to
his utmost."
He said: "If we are to live together, we must have tolerance of other
people's view, religious tolerance, ideological tolerance, and these are
the things which have become inevitable in the interests of
self-preservation. We must respect every individual. If you take
democracy in the proper sense, it is accepting the variety of the world
as something to be encouraged and not as something to be destroyed or
obliterated. If you have differences, they have to be settled by
peaceful methods."
The Headmaster of S. Thomas' Preparatory School Yohesan Casie Chetty
said S. Thomas' has for long been a model of the unity we seek for the
nation. The conclusion of the conflict in our land has provided us with
a window of opportunity to create the united Sri Lanka we desire for
ourselves and for the generations to follow.
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