Life Skills- Introduction
“Life Skills” by the term only, we can assume that it indicates those skills, strategies which are essential to live a prosperous and happy life by combating all obstacles, faced in the path of life. The life-skills’ refers to the psycho-social skills, which can be learned and practiced such as self-awareness, problem-solving, critical thinking and interpersonal skills. the World Health Organization (WHO) defines life-skill education as “abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individual to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life.” The life skill education is essential in terms of minimizing risk, maximizing preventive factors and optimizing protective aspect of an individual. This emphasis on skill related to training for individual and group empowerment.
Life Skill Education and Gender Sensitization
Life skill education is an approach to education that cn promote gender sensitivity which consequently contribute to gender equality in teaching-learning process. They can play great role in ensuring gender disparity.
1. Life-skill education make students more informed and knowledgeable regarding their health, their rights and duties. By sensitizing to the human right, it can make the students specially the girls aware of the gender equality.
2. As life skill education includes the topics like human right including gender equity and equality and sustainable development equality etc., it can redress inequality that are being practiced inside and outside the school.
3. Implementation of life-skill in teaching learning uses a variety of participatory and interactive techniques like- role playing, debating, decision making etc. These can create a gender balanced environment in the school.
4. Life-skill training can empower the students with the tools for making informed decision across several aspects of life career and vocational choices, which indirectly ensures inclusive access to and participation in education for all without discrimination.
5. Life-skill education provides both boys and girls equal opportunities of discussion, voicing opinions within learning context.
6. Life-skill education stimulates the students to think critically about the beliefs, attitudes and expectations popularly held about men and women.
7. Life-skill education reflects the personal understanding and experiences about gender in the different stages of development of the child, which help them to sensitize to the issue of gender.
8. The life-skill education can work to influence community attitudes towards gender discrimination.
9. Life-skill education empower both girls and boys to appreciate the importance of developing a critical understanding about gender concern.
10. It helps the students to exchange experiences, views and opinions and discuss gender differences.
11. It also allows both boys and girls to be a part of solution to any problem.
12. Life-skill education help the students to critically analyze how society influence gender roles in its tradition, culture, laws and how such traditional roles frequently embody inequalities and differences in expectations.
13. L:ife-skill education can promote equal participation of both girls and boys in each and every aspect of life, thereby ensuring gender equality.
14. Life-skill education can achieve positive behavioural changes in respect to gender norms through a balance of knowledge attitudes and skills.
15. Life-skill education can sensitize the students specially the boys to more empathetic and gender sensitive.
