Somewhat belatedly, educationists especially in urban schools across the subcontinent, have become acutely aware that teaching life/ soft skills for professional and personal success is as important as developing academic capability. Summiya Yasmeen reports It’s the new buzzword in Indian education. Everybody — school and college managements, principals, teachers, educationists, parents, students, and even corporates — is suddenly talking about the critical importance of life skills education. Somewhat belatedly educationists especially in urban schools across the subcontinent, have become acutely aware of the rising popularity of life skills education- that teaching life/ soft skills to students is as important as developing academic capability for professional and personal success. Celebration by the print and electronic media of corporate heroes such as Reliance Industries founder the late Dhirubhai Ambani, Virgin Atlantic boss Richard Branson, steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who were academic drifters but well equipped in life skills, and the liberalisation of the Indian economy has thrown open unprecedented opportunities and high-paying jobs which require more than mere academic capability. Hence the rising demand for life skills education. Defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as “abilities for positive and adaptive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and changes of everyday life”, life skills such as problem solving, decision making, good manners, communication and interpersonal skills, are highly valued in the job marketplace of India’s rapidly globalising economy. Consequently surging demand for these taken-for-granted but conspicuously lacking soft skills has led to a sudden spurt in the promotion of a spate of life skills education firms which offer customised programmes to schools, colleges and corporates promising the vital X factor to round off the education of students and indeed, of corporate executives. “In the past five years in particular following the opening up of the Indian economy and technological sea-change, there’s been growing awareness among school and college managements that examination success does not necessarily translate into workplace success. It requires something more than mugging up textbooks to be a successful doctor, engineer, architect, teacher, manager or entrepreneur. And that vital missing link in the education process is the acquisition of life skills — capabilities which prepare children to cope with life’s diverse challenges. These skills which need to be nurtured help children tackle failure, relationships, sexuality, exam fears, rejection, peer pressure, and stress — problems which can severely affect their lives,” says Syed Sultan Ahmed, founder managing director of The Activity, a Bangalore-based division of S.S. Edutainment Pvt Ltd, with offices in six cities and among the first firms to formally deliver life skills education to school students. According to Ahmed, a chemical engineer of Bangalore University, who started The Activity in 1997, the World Health Organisation (WHO) accepted the need for life skills education in 1998. WHO recommended a module comprising ten life skills — stress management, problem solving, communication skills, emotions management, creative thinking, self awareness, interpersonal skills, empathy, decision making, and critical thinking — to every school worldwide to incorporate into the mainstream academic curriculum. The…
