Skill Based Education and CBSE’s New Curriculum

With the changing dynamics of the World, our education system too needs to develop new and advanced skills and methods to stay relevant in the current world scenario. Often we think, is our child learning the skills required in the real world. Since schools are the primary institutions imparting knowledge, life skills education must be given equal importance as it teaches one, ways to deal with different situations with confidence. Such skills have practical implications in the real world and are much more than theoretical knowledge. 

We have all been in this situation at least once in our school life where we know the answer but are too scared to raise our hands or we’ve been asked to perform on stage and we froze numb or even worse, backed out at the last moment because our fear took the best of us. But pause and think why? Why were we fluent in writing but not speaking? Why can we write long paragraphs and letters describing how we feel but end the entire speech in 2 sentences when we are asked to speak? Lack of personal development skills is the answer. We’ve written essays countless times, but rarely have we participated in public speaking. The lack of practice and it being an optional subject or a co-curricular activity is what led to our doom. 

Understanding Life Skill Education

According to the World Health Organization, life skills are the ability to adapt to and deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday living. UNICEF defines life skills as a development approach to address a balance of knowledge, attitude, and skills. To simplify it, an individual requires a certain set of skills to interact and function in the outside world, these personal and social skills are known as life skills. Skill based learning, on the other hand, is a learning approach where students apply whatever skills they have learnt in the classroom to real-world situations. 

Why is Skill-based Education Important?

Today’s world is more than just academic knowledge. In order to achieve succes in the 21st century, one must back their academic achievements with life skills to have a booming career. Since children spend most of their time in school, our education system must vasten its scope to include personality development skills in its curriculum. 

In a competitive world like ours, where everyone ‘s running the number one race, if a child only focuses on scoring highest theoretical marks while ignoring the skills that could develop his personality and help him in further stages of life then is it really a win or a loss disguised as a win? Skill based education system ensures that a child acquires the required life skills and knowledge, together in the same curriculum. 

Here are a few benefits of Skill-based Learning 

• Improves personality
• Builds confidence
• Develops remote skills 
• Recognises talents and interests of the child 
• Teached employability skills
• Opens vast career opportunities

CBSE Skill Education 

Traditionally non-academic, skill education is related to a specific trade, occupation and/or vocation. It prepares students for jobs based on manual or practical skills. The board has taken charge of empowering school students with essential life and employability skills. The CBSE curriculum for skill education offers 19 skill subjects at the secondary level and 39 skill subjects at the senior secondary level to be covered during an academic year. This addition in the Indian education system will not only upgrade the proficiency of the upcoming generation but also widen their career prospects. 

Department of Skill Based Education 

Syllabus for Secondary Level Students 

• Retail
• Information technology
• Security
• Automotive
• Introduction to the financial market
• Introduction to tourism
• Beauty and wellness
• Agriculture
• Food production
• Front office operation
• Banking and insurance
• Marketing and sales
• Health and care
• Apparel
• Multimedia
• Multi-skill foundation course
• Artificial intelligence
• Physical activity trainer
• Data science (new)

Syllabus for Senior Secondary Level Students 

• Information technology
• Web application
• Automotive
• Financial market management
• Agriculture
• Food production
• Health care
• Horticulture
• Typography and computer application
• Geospatial technology
• Electrical technology
• Electronic technology
• Multimedia
• Medical diagnostics
• Textile design
• Design
• Food nutrition and dietetics 
• Fashion studies
• Yoga
• Artificial intelligence
• Data science (New)

Primary education in today’s world is not enough for an individual to be successful. It needs a lot more than a simple education degree to be successful. GDGPS Dakshineswar, one of the top schools in Kolkata believes in a student-sentric approach to education therefore, offering each student with the personal attention that they require. The school offers an advanced, progressive curriculum ensuring each student is improving and learning beyond academics in a highly competitive and fast paced environment. It’s a perfect school for a young child to develop, learn, and grow in a positive environment.