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Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies, Online ISSN 2278-8808, SJIF 2018 = 6.371, www.srjis.com PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL, JULY-AUG, 2018, VOL- 6/46 HUMAN RIGHTS AWARENESS AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS OF HIMACHAL PRADESH Balwant Sadrate, Ph. D. T.G.T (Arts); Govt. Model Senior Secondary School (Boys) Lalpani, Shimla Abstract The rights of man have been the concern of all civilizations from time immemorial. The concept of “rights of man” and other fundamental human rights were not unknown to the people of earlier periods. These “rights of man” had a place in almost all the ancient civilizations of the world. The concept of Human Rights was also there perhaps 2500 years back, when a Greek Philosopher Sophocles wrote a drama made „Antigone‟. It is the king of Apes who ordered to prosecute a person by declaring him as a traitor and to throw his dead body in the middle of the city. But the person‟s sister raised voice against it and called for his proper funeral as it was his right. This paper highlights the human rights awareness of senior secondary school students of Himachal Pradesh. Keywords: Human Rights, Senior Secondary, Gender, Neurotic Pattern of Personality, Himachal Pradesh

Scholarly Research Journal's is licensed Based on a work at www.srjis.com Introduction Much of the modern human rights law and the basis of most modern interpretations of human rights can be traced back to relatively recent European history. The Twelve Articles of the Black Forest (1525) are considered to be the first record of human rights in Europe. They were part of the peasants' demands raised towards the Swabian League in the Peasants' War in Germany. The British Bill of Rights ‘An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown’ of 1689 made illegal a range of oppressive governmental actions in the United Kingdom. Two major revolutions occurred during the 18th century, one in the United States (1776) and the other in France (1789), leading to the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen respectively, both of which established certain legal rights. Additionally, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 encoded a number of fundamental civil rights and civil freedoms into law. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” United States Declaration of Independence, 1776

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These were followed by developments in philosophy of human rights by philosophers such as Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill and G. W. F. Hegel during the 18th and 19th centuries. The term human rights probably came into use sometime between Paine's ‘The Rights of Man’ and William Lloyd Garrison's 1831 writings in ‘The Liberator’ saying he was trying to enlist his readers in the great cause of human rights. In the 19th century, human rights became a central concern over the issue of slavery. A number of reformers such as William Wilberforce in Britain worked towards the abolition of slavery. This was achieved in the British Empire by the Slave Trade Act 1807, and the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. In the United States, many northern states abolished their institution of slavery by the mid-19th century, although southern states were still very much economically dependent on slave labour. Conflict and debates over the expansion of slavery to new territories culminated in the southern states' secession and the American Civil War. During the reconstruction period immediately following the war, several amendments were made in theConstitution of United States. These included the: (i) 13th amendment (1865), banning slavery, (ii)14th amendment, assuring full citizenship and civil rights to all people born in the United States, (iii) 15th amendment, guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote. The concept of Human Rights in India may be seen to have existed in crystallization of values that tare the common heritage of mankind. References occur as early as in the Rig Veda to the three Civil Rights, that of Tana (body), Skridhi (dwelling place) and Jibhasi(life). Long before Hobbes, the Indian scriptures tell us about the importance of the freedoms of the individual (Civil Liberties) in sate the concept of Dharma, the Supermen law which governed the Sovereign and the Subjects alike covering the basic principles involved in the theory of rights, duties and freedom. Free India addressed itself to the formulations of Human Rights through the legal instrument of the Constitution. The tryst to make the India's Constitution a viable instrument of the Indian People's salvation, and to secure all persons' basic human rights, is implicit from the preambular promise, fundamental rights, directive principles, and various other provisions of the Constitution. Most of the Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 and two International covenants are building blocks of our constitutional framework. Though the Constituent Assembly was primarily concerned with the welfare of masses, yet there was considerable emphasis on the ameliorative role of the State. Strictly speaking, the promulgation of the Constitution by the people may be said as a landmark in the development Copyright © 2017, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies

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of Human Rights Jurisprudence in India. The Preamble, Fundamental rights and the Directive Principles of state policy together guarantee the basic Human Rights for the people of India. The Human Rights Awareness, which will be inculcated among student at the secondary stages, will positively affect their future thinking towards the Human Rights. This will be helpful in developing among them much needed Human Rights Awareness. Human Rights Awareness at secondary stages helps in solving various problems in the near future. Hence, there is a great need to make urban as well as rural societies aware about present status of Human Rights. The need of the hour is to organize a mass movement to protect Human Rights in urban as well as rural areas. OBJECTIVE 1.

The objective of this research was to study and compare the ‘Human Rights Awareness’ of senior secondary school students’ w.r.t. their gender; Area and Neurotic pattern of personality

HYPOTHESIS 1.

Senior secondary school students do not differ significantly in ‘Human Rights Awareness’ w.r.t. their gender, area and neurotic pattern of personality

OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF THE TERMS USED: 

Human Rights Awareness: These are the moral claims which are inalienable and

inherent in all human individuals by virtue of their humanity alone. 

Personality Factor: Personality is the dynamic organization with-in the individual of

those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment. 

Senior Secondary Students: In this study, senior secondary students undergoing

regular course of two years duration from different educational institutions in Himachal Pradesh affiliated to Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education, Dharamshala. 

Area: Area includes location of senior secondary school students belonging to urban

or rural area. ─ Urban Area: Senior secondary school students belonging to urban area. ─ Rural Area: Senior secondary school students belonging to rural area. 

GENDER: Gender refers to male and female senior secondary school students.

RESEARCH METHOD In this study descriptive method was used.Descriptive Methodof research is concerned with describing the conditions or relationships that exist, practice that prevail, Copyright © 2017, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies

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beliefs, viewpoints or attitudes that are held, processes that are going on, effects that are being felt or trends that are developing. Its major purpose is to describe the status of ‘what it is’. POPULATION The entire group from which the sample is drawn is known as population. The term population in research may consist of persons, objects, attributes qualities, behaviour of people and answer to various items of a test. In the present study population was defined in terms of all the students’ studying in science, arts and commerce streams in different senior secondary schools of Himachal Pradesh. Further,all students studying in 10+1 and 10+2 classes of all the senior secondary students of Himachal Pradesh constituted the population of the present study. It includes the students (male and female) of science, arts and commerce streams and urban and rural areas. SAMPLING & SAMPLE Sampling is the process by which a relatively small number of individuals or objects or events or institutions are selected for data collection and data analysed in order to find out something about the entire population from which the sample was selected.In the present study, the sample was drawn by using 'random sampling technique'. The sampling was done at three stages. In the first stage, six districts viz., Shimla, Solan, Kullu, Bilaspur, Kinnaur and Mandi were selected out of the existing twelve districts of the state. In the second stage 24 schools in total (4 schools from each district) were selected randomly. At the last stage, 600 senior secondary school students (300 students from different areas viz., urban and rural, 100 students from different stream i.e. science, arts and commerce, and 50 students from different gender i.e. male and female) of different schools from 6 district of Himachal Pradesh were selected randomly. The sample of the study comprised 360 senior secondary school students. Gender, academic stream and area wise details of the sample of secondary school students are given in Table 1.1:

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TABLE-1.1 Gender, Academic Stream and Area Wise Details of the Final Sample of Senior Secondary School Students Area Types of Stream Male Science Female Male Arts Female Male Commerce Female Total

Rural

Urban

Total

30 30 30 30 30 30 180

60 60 60 60 60 60 360

TOOLS USED FOR DATA COLLECTION Keeping in view the nature and significance of the present study, an inventory on Human Rights Awareness was developed by the investigator to collect requisite data from the students of 10+1 and 10+2 classes. STATISTICAL TECHNIQUE USED For analysis and interpretation of the obtained data ‘Analysis of Variance’ (2x3x2 factorial design) was used by the investigator. The obtained values of ‘F’ ratios were interpreted by comparing them with the ‘F’ tables at 0.05 and 0.01 levels of significance. Further, ‘t’ test was used to test the significance of difference between any two means, where it was thought necessary. FINDINGS OF THE STUDY In order to study the main effects of type of gender, area and neurotic behavior; the double interaction effects of gender and area , area and neurotic behaviour pattern, gender and neurotic behavior; and the triple interaction effects of gender, area and neurotic behavior, on human rights awareness scores of senior secondary school students Analysis of Variance (2x2x2) factorial design involving two levels of gender i.e. male and female two types of area i.e. urban and rural and two levels of neurotic behaviour pattern i.e. more and less was applied. The human rights awareness scores of senior secondary school students are given in the Table 1.2 as follows:

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TABLE 1.2 Total Scores and Means on Human Rights Awareness of Senior Secondary Students w.r.t their Gender, Area and Neurotic Behaviour Pattern of Personality TYPE OF GENDER ACADEMIC STREAM &NEUROTIC BEHAVIOUR PATTERN

SCORES AND MEANS OF MALE STUDENTS

SCORES AND MEANS OF FEMALE STUDENTS

SCORES & MEANS IRRESPECTI VE OF SEX

1787 (39.71)

1759 (39.09)

3546 (1) (39.40)

1784 39.64)

1884 (41.87)

3668 (2) 40.75)

3571 (40.26)

3643 (40.11)

7214 (40.08)

1778 (39.51)

1737 (38.60)

3515 (3) (39.06)

1748 (38.84)

1802 (40.04)

3550 (4) (39.44)

TOTAL SCORES AND MEANS OF RURAL AREA

3526 (37.88)

3539 (39.27)

7065 (39.25)

TOTAL AND MEAN SCORES

7097 (39.43)

7182 (39.90)

Grand Total & Mean Score

URBAN

MORE NEUROTIC BEHAVIOUR PATTERN LESS NEUROTIC BEHAVIOUR PATTERN

TOTAL SCORES AND MEANS OF URBAN AREA

RURAL

MORE NEUROTIC BEHAVIOUR PATTERN LESS NEUROTIC BEHAVIOUR PATTERN

SCORES & MEANS OF MORE & LESS N/ BEHAVIOUR PATTERN

7061 (1+3) (39.23)

7218 (2+4) (40.10)

14279 (39.66)

In the above Table, the female students of urban area with less neurotic behaviour pattern i.e. less neurotic personality pattern were having the highest mean score i.e. (41.87). The female students of rural area with more neurotic behaviour pattern i.e. less neurotic personality pattern were having the lowest mean score (38.60), whereas the means of the other categories remained in between the two aforesaid means. From the human rights awareness scores w.r.t. Gender, Area and Neurotic behaviour pattern patterns, ‘F’ ratios were calculated. The results are summarised in the Table 1.3 as follows:

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TABLE 1.3 Summary Table of Analysis Of Variance of Human Rights Awareness Scores of Senior Secondary Students w.r.t their Gender, Area and Neurotic Behaviour Pattern of Personality

Gender Area

Sum Squares(ss) 20.07 61.67

Neurotic behaviour pattern

68.47

4.37*

Gender x Area

9.67

0.62

21.03

1.34

138.14

8.82**

3.01

0.19

5511.27 5833.33

352 359

15.66 ---------

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Source of Variation

Area x Neurotic pattern

behaviour

Gender x Neurotic behaviour pattern Gender x Area x Neurotic behaviour pattern Error Variance (ssw) Total Sum of Squares *significant at 0.05 level of significance

‘F’ Ratio

1 1

Mean Square (V) 20.07 61.67

1.28 3.94*

**significant at 0.01 level of significance



Main effect of Gender: From the above Table 1.3, it is evident that the calculated

value of ‘F’ ratio df 1 and 348 came out to be 1.28, which is significantly lower than the ‘F’ Table value 3.87 at 0.05 level of significance. Hence the hypotheses no. 1(a) ‘senior secondary school students do not differ significantly in ‘human rights awareness w.r.t.their gender’ was retained. Thus, it is interpreted that male and female students of senior secondary school were having equal level of human rights awareness. Further, from the Table 1.2, it is interpreted that the means of male and female students irrespective of their area were 39.43 and 39.90, respectively. No doubt there is a difference of 0.47 mean score between the two means, but this difference does not affect the ‘F’ ratio significantly. 

Main effect of Area: From the Table 1.3, it is evident that the calculated value of ‘F’

ratio for df 1 and 348 came out to be 3.94, which is significantly greater than the ‘F’ Table value 3.87 at 0.05 level but lower than the ‘F’ value (6.71) of 0.01 level of significance. Hence the hypothesis no. (b), ‘senior secondary school students do not differ significantly in ‘human rights awareness w.r.t.their area’ was retained. Thus it is interpreted that senior secondary school students of urban and rural area were possessing different levels of knowledge pertaining to human rights.Further, from the Table 1.2, it is evident that the means of urban and rural area students were 40.08 and 39.25 respectively. The difference of 0.83 mean score between the two mean scores is affecting the results at 0.05 level but not at 0.01 level of significance. Copyright © 2017, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies

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Main effect of Neurotic behaviour pattern: From the Table 1.3, it is evident that the

calculated value of ‘F’ ratio for df 1 and 348 came out to be 4.37, which is significantly greater than the ‘F’ Table value 3.87 at 0.05 level but lower than the ‘F’ value (6.71) of 0.01 level of significance. Hence the hypothesis no. 1(c), ‘senior secondary school students do not differ significantly in ‘human rights awareness w.r.t.their neurotic pattern of personality’ was retained. Thus it is interpreted that senior secondary school students with less and more neurotic behaviour pattern patterns differ significantly in their human rights awareness. Further, from the Table 1.2, it is evident that the means of student with more and less neurotic behaviour patterns irrespective of their sex and academic stream were having 39.23 and 40.10 respectively. The difference of 0.87 mean score between the two mean is affecting the result at 0.05 level but not at 0.01 level of significance. CONCLUSION Following conclusions were drawn from the present study: 

None of the main effects i.e. gender, area and neurotic behavior pattern of personality were found significant at 0.01 level. Only the interaction effect on effect of gender and neurotic behavior pattern of personality was found significant at 0.01 level of significance.



Neither the main nor the interaction of gender, area and openness behaviour pattern of personality was found significant even at 0.05 level of significance.



Out of the main effects of area, academic stream and openness behaviour pattern of personality only the main effect of academic stream was found significant at 0.01 level of significance w.r.t. students’ human rights awareness. The ‘t’ value of arts-commerce stream was found significant at 0.01of significant. None of the interaction effects was found significant. Out of the main effects of gender, academic stream and agreeableness behaviour pattern of personality only the main effect of academic stream was found significant at 0.05 level of significance w.r.t. students’ human rights awareness. None of the interaction effects was found significant.

REFERENCES Basu, D.D. (1994). “Human Rights in constitutional law”. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd. Forsythe, David P. (2000). Human Rights in International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. International Progress Organization. Koul, Lokesh (1997). Methodology of Educational Research,Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. Landman, Todd (2006). Studying Human Rights. Oxford and London: Routledge. Rao, D.B. (2004). United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education, Discovery Publication House New Delhi. Copyright © 2017, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies