MADURAI, INDIA, April 29, 2016 (Deccan Chronicle): Observing that the Tirukkural alone can take the younger generation on a righteous path, the Madurai bench of Madras high court directed the state government to include 108 chapters of Tirukkural, the great Tamil masterpiece on ethics, in the curriculum of students from VI standard to XII standards in the school syllabus for the next academic year.
Dismissing the argument of special government pleader V.R. Shanmuganathan that inclusion of entire Tirukkural as subject would increase the burden on the students, Justice R. Mahadevan said that though maths and science are considered to be most difficult subjects for school students, the government has never had any second thoughts to reduce the portions because they considered it necessary for the academic development of the student.
“Moral science is equally important and if not more. A mere intelligent but a person without moral aptitude can ruin the society more than an unintelligent person with morals,” he observed.