Humane Education: Building Pre-Adolescent’s Empathy and Compassion Towards Animals in The Indian Context

Considering the increasing conflict between human and non-human animals, some organizations in India have started emphasizing the need for inclusion of education in the school curriculum which teaches kindness and cultivates empathy and compassion towards all living creatures among children leading to the emergence of the field of humane education. Indian philosopher J.  Krishnamurti lays utmost emphasis on children’s exposure to nature and creating new values. Yet, there has been little rigorous research evaluating the efficacy and effectiveness of such programs in the Indian context. Increasing instances of animal cruelty are evident enough to see how the education system is failing to nurture children as sensitive beings who must learn to live in coexistence with nature. The current study discusses some of these issues and presents the findings from a quantitative study using ex post facto research design. A total of 100 students from 912th grade (all approximately 15-18 years old) from two separate schools were recruited as samples for the study. Two tools, namely, the Index of Empathy for Children and Adolescents (IECA) and the Children’s Treatment of Animals Questionnaire (CTAQ) were used to measure the level of empathy and compassion respectively. The results showed that scores of both empathy and compassion increased for the students who were already being exposed to a human education programme (HEP). Still, only scores for compassion were found to be significantly different which meant that there was a positive impact on the compassion of students who were exposed to humane education than those who were not. The findings of this study have important implications for policymakers, educationists, school psychologists, and the like, to design effective HEPs and incorporate them into the school curriculum.