The concept of education is defined as the process of ‘Growing in Love.’ The scope of Growing in Love has three dimensions: Growing in Love towards God, Growing in Love towards Others and Environment and Growing in Love towards Oneself. For children, the process of Growing in Love is initiated by Parents, safeguarded by Teachers and accomplished by Oneself in personal life. Since God is the source of all wisdom, Growing in Love towards God remains the prime motive of education. Therefore, Parents and Teachers must guide their Children to identify this Supreme Power of Love in their daily life. The journey of every child towards education begins at home when the Parents make their children feel the protection of God each day as they step out from home and move forward to the temple of learning. The Teachers have the same role to make them feel the presence of God in every step that they take in their learning. Growing in Love towards God is initiated by Teachers when they create a caring culture of relationship for the children to reach the excellence of life. The best way of fulfilling this responsibility is to know one’s students by understanding the life they live outside the classroom and actively listening to the needs of each of them. By doing so, each Teacher becomes a source of protection to the student and makes him/her ‘Grow in Love’ towards God.

The second dimension of ‘Growing in Love’ is to nurture Love towards Others and Environment. Parents and Teachers must foster among students a care for the Others and the Environment as a priority and ethical expectation. If we want our Children value others’ perspectives and show compassion for people, they must hear from their Parents and Teachers the live stories of empathy shown to others. Our educational institutions should provide ample opportunities for the Children to practice empathy and expand their circle of concern through creating positive and healthy feelings by resolving the conflicts in their daily life. They must be taught to protect the Environment and their companions daily.

Growing in Love towards Oneself is the psychological necessity of human life. It is not the selfish motive for their personal glory but a journey of self-discovery. Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda emphasized this personal realization of oneself as the objective of education. Growing in loving towards oneself will create self-esteem in oneself so that individuals may develop emotional maturity and creative inspiration in life. Parents and Teachers who involve in the process of education must focus on to create a positive self-esteem among their Children to accomplish a greater glory in their life.
Let this process of education at St Vincent’s, Keralapuram strengthen each individual to Grow in Love and to measure the peak of one’s intellectual brilliance and spiritual insight for the societal development of our country.