IMPORTANCE OF LIFE SKILLS IN EDUCATION SYSTEM

3. Life Skills : Don’t we feel that

“ the ability to communicate properly is an essential skill that needs to be cultivated in every growing child”

1a. Life Skills : Singing and Telling Jokes

Need : Our schools generally create an impression that they are no places for fun and all the learning that takes place there is an inescapably terrible ordeal which the child has to endure to get ready for another harrowing experience called exams. This naturally kills the joy in learning and dissuades the children from going to school.

Remeady : Singing and dancing come naturally to children and can go a long way in making schools lively and inviting places for children. Having fun and laughter makes the day delightful and keeps the mind active and enthusiastic. A child a day sings a song and another child tells a good joke or narrates a funny incident (as per the annual plan prepared to involve every student and displayed in the school) in the beginning of the post schooling session which turns the attention of the children to the session and helps them calm down to listen to the song, laugh merrily at the joke  and thus they get ready with a cheerful mood for the learning activities that follow. It gives a wonderful feeling to a child to know that his talents and skills can be exhibited and they are encouraged and appreciated by his peers and elders. And when this happens at a school it helps the children shed their fears and inhibitions and go to school with a positive and cheerful mind.

Indicator : 1. Participation and Performance of the students   in the Balasabha.  2.Initial increase and later a consistency in the student attendance.

1b. Life Skills : Story Telling

Need : The ability to communicate properly is an essential skill that needs to be cultivated in every growing child. It helps him interact with others in the school and the outer society, share his thoughts and understand others' ideas and thoughts and thus helps him grow into a healthy social individual. Children who lack this ability find it very difficult to express themselves or tell about their problems to their peers or their elders. They have many fears, dilemmas and apprehensions which are not expressed and they become shy and timid. As days pass by these children shrink from mingling with others and from attending school as they find it difficult to cope with the learning activities in the school.

Remeady : Children love stories.Story telling is an educational merit and a very efficient communication technique. It develops the creative, critical and social skills of children. Stories and storytelling offer much more than an opportunity for literacy development in children: they can be an integral mechanism for sharing knowledge, creating understanding, and transmitting and exploring ethics, values, and moral dilemmas.  Story telling  sessions if  planned and executed properly can make the children take part in it with enthusiasm and cultivate the interset in them to come to school regularly as they begin to find learning at school an interesting and exciting activity.A child a day tells a story (as per the annual plan prepared to involve every student)  in the beginning of the post schooling session which naturally involves the attention of the children. Their story telling skills are appreciated in front of other children and in the presence of the important elders in the society which tremendously boosts their confidence levels and encourages other children to come forward to show their narrating skills.

Indicator : 1.Participation and Performance of the students in the Balasabha.  2.Children vying with each other to tell stories  3. Initial increase and later a consistency in the student attendance.

1c. Life Skills : Vaarthalu-Viseshaalu

Need : Children should be instilled with a sense of belonging about their school. As long as this is not done they do not feel they are involved in the process of schooling and they do not feel interested and lack the motivation to come to school.

Remeady : Children, if kept well informed in the simple language they understand about the happenings of their surroundings, will acquire the power to think, to respond, to involve, to act and to change for the good. As they involve they own and they act. As they act they change for their betterment.  As a part of everyday programme at the post schooling session a child a day shall read the news (as per the annual plan prepared to involve every student) prepared in a simple language by the students about the main events of the day that took place in the school and the village and also about the events that happened around the world. This encourages them to take an interest in what is happening around them in the school and society and to share their observation with others. In the process they cultivate a sense of belonging about the school and feel motivated to attend school.

Indicator : 1.Maintenance of the news journal prepared by the students everyday. 2. Participation and Performance of the students in the Balasabha

1d. Life Skills : Community Participation

Need : The role of the enlightened community and the elders in the society in stopping the drop-outs is very crucial. If they are complacent and indifferent to the education of the children of their village, children fail to realise and imbibe the importnace of and interest in attending school. This is one of the major reasons for the huge drop-outs.

Remeady : The  enlightened community and the elders of the society shall be involved by inviting them to the balasabhas as guests and by asking them to observe the performance of the children and motivate them with their messages and narration of real life experiences that would highlight the importance of education and bless them and encourage them by distributing the prizes to the best performers of the events of the week. Children will surely feel motivated when such persons whom they respect or admire come to spend time with them and talk to them. Encouraged by this they begin to understand what an important place school is and start feeling a sense of respect for school and their teachers.

Indicator : 1. Organising Balasabhas regularly  2. Properly organising the complete schedule of the balasabha.   3. Active participation of the members of the community as mentioned in every Balasabha.