Character Building of Students: Private Secondary School Principals' Perceptions and Practices

Abstract

Principals play an important role in preparing self-reliant and benevolent students who become lifelong learners, contribute to their nation, and serve society as ethical citizens. Strong character based on desirable moral values can heighten our lives exceedingly. Whilst weak or poor character can have disastrous effects on us as humanity is going through the complexities of the 21st century at social, economic, and individual levels. This qualitative study used a semi-structured interview design to explore the perceptions and practices of principals from ten private schools of Lahore regarding students' character building. This was done using a purposefully selected sample and a self-constructed semi-structured interview guide. The analysis of the data revealed that most of the principals considered the central purpose of education is to groom students' whole personalities according to the Islamic moral values considering them as the universally beneficial virtues. Research outcomes provided us with the information about principals' practices used in secondary schools from a conducive environment to the curriculum, helping in cultivating a community of virtue. This study's findings related to the formation of students' characters can be beneficial for society, policymakers, school administration, parents, teachers, and learners.