Proposed 'Life skills' to be taught in schools

Above findings are shared by Courtesy Mansi Dholakia, CEO and Global Ambassador for Mental Health Association, UK, based on Survey conducted by Matalan which is a British fashion and homeware retailer based in Knowsley, Merseyside. It was established by John Hargreaves in 1985.

Life skills curriculum can point out the need for good time management and help students find tools for making it a habit. Schools face an ongoing challenge when it comes to equipping tomorrow's workforce. High schools can prepare students for success by giving them the skills they need to become productive adults. There have been various discussion ongoing in school managements as to how to include the necessary life skills to be included in the school curriculum to make students effective overall mental growth and capacity.

As we all know, the life skills are first and foremost preventative mental health skills that allow more young people to lead good, happy and meaningful lives. Teaching life skills supports students' personal growth, by providing knowledge, skills and social capital. The basic problem with school curriculum in general today is that, instead of learning critical life skills on how to manage money, how to negotiate, or how to communicate, kids are mostly taught to memorise information. However, this is a general problem of focus that schools have as the schools are not really geared up to teach us 'what matters most' basis.

"Education shouldn't just be about preparing us for the workforce but it should prepare us for life"- says Matt Davis (Further reading: https://bigthink.com/personal-growth/life-skills-school). If you look at the chart above it shows the important things having higher percentage points are the following which we need to focus upon:

1. Communication skills to develop self confidence (42% weight-age): As we all are aware, conflict is an inevitable part of daily life and learning how to communicate effectively is an essential method for turning conflict into something productive rather than something destructive according to Dr.Carol Morgan, of Huffpost.
2. Financial literacy :(up to 39% Weight-age): With high cost of today's education system it is essential that students are well aware basics of financial literacy or the management of funds. Average school students are not aware of the way their parents are managing their high costs of sending pupils to school. They need to have financial skills required to manage regular loan payments on top of paying household bills, buying groceries, and what is most important is saving money regularly. This habit of saving money for future use is very essential life skill today.
3. Emotional Intelligence: ( up to 26% weight-age) It is the ability to carry out accurate reasoning about emotions and the ability to use emotions and emotional knowledge to enhance thought process. John Mayer and colleagues' research showed that higher emotional intelligence is associated with higher quality relationships, being perceived more positively by others, better academic achievement, a better sense of well-being, and a variety of other positive outcomes. When a teacher says, 'Calm down!' but how exactly do you calm down when you're feeling anxious? Where do you learn the skills to manage those feelings? This is what Emotional Intelligence talks about.
4. Nutrition: (up to 17% weight-age): Schools that do offer nutrition education see students with lower Body Mass Indexes and waist circumferences, healthier eating behaviours and even improved standardised test scores. Nutrition education has been shown to be associated with improved cognitive development and fewer behavioural outbursts at schools. By implementing a consistent nutrition education plan in schools, the students could gain a healthier, longer-term and more intelligent set up while growing up. Giving tips on eating high fibre, low sugar, low fat, low salt foods is important right from schooling years as the children tend to get more obese these days.
5. Civic Relationship behaviours: ( up to 21% weight-age): It seen that majority of schools fail to include education on what civic participation looks like or students often remain ignorant on how citizens can engage directly with their communities. Only about a quarter of students report that they took part in debates or panel discussions, and over 70 percent of students reported that they had never been encouraged to write a letter to give an opinion or solve a problem. It is therefore indeed essential to include the training on better civic sense and behaviour towards community and inculcating a habit of co-existence and form a healthy all inclusive society.

In summary it can be said that for a truly competent, intelligent, and healthy population to grow up as good quality citizens of tomorrow, more attention needs to be paid to the skills that everyone needs on a daily basis right from school level. Stay blessed! #kishoreshintre