Imagine oneself in an educational ecosystem, in a classroom comprising of young people from different backgrounds/communities, with different skill sets and different purposes in life. There could be aspiring artists, doctors, dancers, sports people, social workers, scientists, actors and what not. Surprisingly, everyone is assessed based on how well they score in Physics; does that sound fair? 

India has the largest K-12 population in the world. There is ample evidence, stories and lived examples of how our current education practice is failing young people in India. There is a big gap between the education practice and the skills required for living and thriving in the fast-changing world, where change is constant, every day. Such sudden real-world changes can surprise young people, where they then enter a state of unpreparedness. The courses learnt in schools and colleges prove irrelevant once a young person enters the real world because the system only stresses on concepts of numeracy, literacy, social sciences, etc. The skills that help them face real-world challenges include being innovative and creative, ability to take quick and clear decisions, willingness to interact and socialize with others, solving problems of day-to-day life, managing conflicts at work or in life, being inquisitive and as basic a skill as understanding and following instructions. All such skills that can help a child be resilient, responsible and happy. 

With the actual lack of such skills within school systems, one can only imagine how young people from vulnerable backgrounds would be handling challenges in this VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world because, fundamentally, our young people coming from these backgrounds do not have favourable conditions enabling their learning journey. They are deprived of quality education owing to the intersectional factors (caste, religion, gender, class, etc.) that influenced their journey in the system historically.

Given the failures of today’s education practices, what we would like to amplify is that life skills should not be viewed as an extracurricular activity but be integrated into learning because life skills can help ready young people for their present and future, on a personal, interpersonal, and community level, through empowerment, employability, learning, and citizenship. The COVID-19 pause has helped us reflect and understand that critical life skills were required to be able to overcome and adapt to the abrupt changes that the world threw at each one of us. It was during this time that we understood that what young people needed on a day-to-day basis are life skills and not just grounding in Math and Science.

There is an urgent need to integrate life skills into young people’s learning and viewing it as a lifelong learning journey, a journey a child embarks on towards independently understanding self, showing empathy, regulating emotions, and managing behaviour. It is all about heart and soul work. It is about designing an evolving process where one needs to pause, reflect, and learn, without rote learning, competition, a predefined notion of success in life and just one finish line. And, while students do not have to completely depend on life skills, when teachers focus on this journey, it can lead to a complete turnaround in classroom culture, engagement, and student personal growth.

While there are many strategies to integrate life skills into learning, here are a few effective ways to design this: 

1. Curriculum-integrated – An integrated approach is inclusive of life skills across the curriculum or teaches specific skills and abilities through subjects such as Maths, Social Science, and Physical Education. This intervention will combine both the academic pieces of knowledge (for example, History) with life skills (for example, decision-making, empathy, social interaction, teamwork, etc). Hence, promoting the practical application of knowledge and equipping young people with skills for real-life. 
2. Teacher Development – Focus on building the skills of teachers to become facilitators in the process of learning and see young people as co-owners and co-designers in the process. Earlier, access to information was only through teachers, but today the role of a teacher has shifted. They have to be present in the processes, be observant, create a supportive environment, share life experiences, engage in vital conversations, provide enough opportunities to young people, support them in practising their classroom knowledge in the real world and teach personal and social responsibilities.
3. Reimagining Physical Learning Environment – Physical learning spaces should be conducive to learning where young people are seen and heard. It should be designed to meet the needs of twenty-first-century learners and to facilitate flexibility in teaching. Focus on an unstructured learning environment where young people are not restricted to the classroom for the most part. There must be innovation in designing spaces to promote experiential learning, experimenting, observing, and facilitating. For example, labs to learn cooking or carpentry, spaces to relax, learn botany by closely observing and experiencing plant growth, etc.
4. Parent Engagement – Parents should become educators and be actively involved in their children’s learning journey. Teaching life skills begins at home with parents and they play a major role in that. It starts with building a strong connection with children by providing their undivided attention and initiating projects that provide real-life situations and lessons for life skills like decision-making, communication, problem-solving, etc. For example: Assigning simple household chores as a way forward to being independent, fostering everyday survival skills by teaching them how to respond in emergencies, engaging them in sports and volunteering activities to build on interpersonal skills, etc.
5. Collaborative Learning – Young people learn valuable life skills through collaborative learning. When a team is given a task or asked to work on an idea, there will be discussion, interaction, and evaluation of ideas, active listening and learning from each other, critical thinking and problem-solving mindset, interacting and sharing thoughts, supporting and valuing others, agreeing and disagreeing respectfully, and coordinating and communicating openly with each other. These are valuable skills that will aid them in learning to become compassionate and empathetic human beings along with cognitive and creative attainments. 

Authors- Aiswarya Babu Shelvi (Associate Manager, Thriving School), Shwetha AR (Anchor, Direct Impact) and Pavithra K L (Associate Director , Direct Impact)