Principals of all 20 campuses of City Montessori School, Lucknow appealed to the students and teachers of all schools, colleges, universities and professional institutes to observe Valentine’s Day on 14 February as Family Unity Day thus maintaining the dignity and relevance of this special occasion. It is a day of strengthening the ties of family and reinforcing unity amongst family members. The CMS Principals were addressing a press conference here today. Family values, traditions and character building qualities are fast eroding in today’s mechanical life. It is our foremost duty to give the right direction to the younger generation and inculcate feelings of human relationships, values and good character in the youth and adolescents. The Principals appealed to all countrymen in one voice to make a firm resolve to save the present generation from moral degradation. Valentine’s Day is often misunderstood and misinterpreted as a day of rejoicing in a frivolous and immoral way leading to downfall of human values in society and encouragement to crimes related to sex and violence. They said that while St. Valentine had sacrificed his life for the sake of marriage solidarity and family unity, these facts are now overlooked and people take advantage of this day to promote licentious and immoral behaviour to fulfill their selfish motives and satisfy their baser instincts. They mislead the younger generation into believing it as a day of illicit love, romance and disregard for family values. As educators and shapers of the future of mankind, it is our duty to stop this kind of behaviour and pave way for a morally rich and humane generation in future, they said.
In this press conference, Principal of CMS Kanpur Road campus, Dr Vineeta Kamran; Senior Principal of CMS Gomti Nagar (Campus I), Ms Manjit Batra; Principal of CMS Chowk campus, Mrs Sadhna Bedi; Senior Principal of CMS Rajendra Nagar (Campus I), Ms Deepa Tewari; Principal of CMS Aliganj (Campus I), Mrs Jyoti Kashyap; Principal of CMS Rajajipuram (Campus I), Mrs D. Watal; Principal of CMS RDSO Gupta; Principal of CMS Indira Nagar Campus, Mrs Abha Anant; Principal of CMS Mahanagar (Campus I), Mrs Nalini Sharad;  Principal of CMS Mahanagar (Campus II), Mrs Vera Hajela; Principal of CMS Mahanagar (Campus III), Mrs Prema Subramaniam; Principal of CMS Rajendra Nagar (Campus II), Mrs Sunita Dwivedi; Principal of CMS Rajendra Nagar (Campus III), Dr Kalpana Tripathi; Principal of CMS Jopling Road Campus, Mrs Manju Nautiyal; Principal of CMS Asharfabad Campus, Mrs Archanaa Pande; Principal of CMS Anand Nagar Campus, Mrs Nisha Pandey; Principal of CMS Rajajipuram (Campus II), Mrs Aruna Naidu; Principal of CMS Aliganj (Campus II), Mrs Rekha Sharma and Principal of CMS Gomti Nagar (Campus II), Ms Neeti Tandon also spoke on the relevance of Valentine’s Day and called upon the students, parents and teachers to celebrate it as Family Unity Day. Only that would be true homage to the great Saint, they said. Principals expressed deep concern that in the present age of mental disturbance in society, the younger generation needs to be given right direction. The distorted way of celebrating Valentine’s Day can have grave consequences and spoil the future. All the Principals said that true homage to Saint Valentine on 14 February will be to observe this day as Family Unity Day with pure love for all members of family - children, brothers and sisters. Family members must express their love and affection for each other and usher the dawn of a Divine Civilization on Earth.
Addressing the press reporters at the press conference, CMS Founder-Director and renowned educationists, Dr (Mrs) Bharti Gandhi said that the deformed way of celebrating this occasion is sure to bring about untold suffering and mental disease in society. This day is a day of mourning for St. Valentine who died fighting for the noble cause of Marriage Solidarity and Human Values. We must consider it as a Martyr’s Day and pay homage to St. Valentine by following his path of righteous behaviour and noble life. The sacrifice of St. Valentine who opposed the cruel king Claudius II of Rome must not go in vain. CMS President and Chief Operating Officer, Prof. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon said that it is a matter of great sorrow that some selfish persons are destroying the moral fabric of society by selling cheap greeting cards and gifts that encourage licentious behaviour in society. Some responsible citizens must come forward to take up a stand for the children who need a healthy and sound education both in and out of school. The very culture of society must change for the upliftment of character and imparting good virtues in children. She further said that it is our duty as citizens of this morally rich country to come forward and show our children as well as all other children of the world the right path in life.
CMS Founder and renowned educationist, Dr Jagdish Gandhi while addressing the press reporters at the press conference, said that the heinous incidents like Delhi gangrape case are taking place due to lack of character building, moralistic, lawful and value based education to children. The whole life of any person gets determined by three types of character. Firstly, God gifted character, Secondly ancestral character inherited from parents and thirdly character developed and acquired from family, school and society. Out of these three characters, the third and the ‘acquired character’ happens to be the most significant. Education that a child gets from family, school and society, really shapes its character. Dr Gandhi emphasized that it is the moral responsibility of schools and colleges to come forth as the beacon for adolescent and youth to establish a clean and healthy society, full of character building qualities. It is our duty to raise our voice for the safety and security of the children of world and disclose the real meaning of Valentine Day before them to arouse divine love in them for God, their parents, brothers-sisters and other relatives.
Dr Gandhi said that historical records show that St. Valentine had secretly arranged marriage ceremonies of the soldiers in the army of King Claudius II of Rome, who had imposed a ban on their marriage because he unwittingly thought that unmarried soldiers would make ferocious fighters to win battles for expansion of his empire. Since the great saint regarded the ban inhuman and against the interest of the young soldiers and society, he opened his church in night to let the soldiers secretly exchange marriage vows with the willing girls. He arranged these secret marriages between the willing partners to protect the sanctity of marriage tradition sanctioned by God. His action, taken at great personal risk, was to protect the society from sin of extra-marital indulgences. The king executed him on February 14 for defying the ban. Therefore, 14 February is actually the day of mourning when condolence meetings should be held to pay homage to the great saint for protecting the society and its people from sin. Is it, therefore, not ridiculous to lend this day of mourning an aura of passion or romance?
Mr Hari Om Sharma, Chief Public Relations Officer of CMS informed that for past several years, CMS has been celebrating Valentine Day as the ‘Family Unity Day’ and motivating the whole society for the same. He expressed his happiness and said that parents have fully supported our sacred mission and expressed their gratitude to the institution. He further said that for past 53 years, CMS has been imparting the teachings of family unity on the basis of the great ideal of Indian culture ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam’ full of divine love.

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