Life Skill Education for post Graduate Management Students:  Relevance and Importance

 

Dr. B. Janakiraman

Professor, Department of Management Studies, Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, P.B.No: 6429, Gollahalli, Govindapura Yelahanka, Bangalore-560 064

 

ABSTRACT:

Life skills can best be recognized as skills for positive and adaptive behaviors that facilitate individuals to efficiently manage their daily requirements and challenges. Important life skills comprise problem-solving, decision-making, creative and critical thinking, effective communication, interpersonal skills, empathy and self-confidence, stress and emotion management. These life skills were further classified into Thinking skills, social skills and emotional skills. Realizing the significance of life skills in the lives of management students, this research has been performed. The statistical analysis showed that they least valued the stress management dimension, indicating the requirement to acquire this ability to meet the ever-increasing demands of daily living.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

The concept of life skills stems from mankind's inherent desire to live a fulfilled and happy life in harmony with the environment. People tend to learn skills for life from a very young age and develop over time, learning to handle the complexities of life. This need is intensified when one chooses certain segments of life.

 

Today's fast and materialistic life has left the emotional part of man behind. Society is seen as a place to cultivate certain non-academic goals that are needed more in today's adaptation to the environment. (Damle, 2013).

 

 

Students are unable to understand the emotional turbulence within themselves and are therefore unable to cope effectively with emotional pain, conflicts, frustrations and fears of the future, which are often the driving force behind high-risk behaviors (Chhadva and Kacker, 2013 ). With a tremendous shift in the structure of society, it is reported to result in increase in teenage stress due to disturbed family dynamics, peer pressure, inability to engage in studies, drug abuse, lack of competence, etc. that leads to maladaptive behavior (Singh Kaur, 2015)

 

According to Nair et. al (2005), Life-Skill Training Programs are good support systems for students, as it is known that education shapes the personality of an individual decisively. 

Powell (1995) defines life skills as life-coping skills that correspond to the developmental tasks of the basic human developmental processes, namely the skills necessary to perform tasks for a given age and gender in the following areas of human development: psychological, physical, professional, cognitive, moral, ego and emotional.

 

With cultures and lifestyles in transition, many young people are not adequately equipped with life skills to help them cope with the increased demands and pressures they experience. Effective use of life skills can influence the way students feel about others and themselves, which in turn can boost their self-confidence and self-esteem (Life-Skills Education 2010). Productivity, self-esteem, self-confidence and interpersonal relationships are also affected due to low expertise in managing life skills (Subashree and Nair, 2014). Improving life skills can lead individuals to make informed decisions to serve the interests of themselves and others, to become "proactive" and to change agents. They are able to resolve conflicts, deal with stress and develop negotiation skills for personal and social benefits. Life skills play an important role in promoting mental well-being, which contributes to one’s motivation to protect self and others. It helps to understand and deal with relationships, friends, parents, teachers, etc. People with low life skill expertise will not be able to move on in life. If a student is empowered to bring understanding and balance into life, he/she will be happier, once he/she becomes grown-ups (Khwaja, 2011).

 

"Adaptive" means that a person is flexible and can adapt to difficult circumstances. "Positive" behavior means that a person is able to cope with adverse situations and find a glimmer of hope and opportunities to find solutions (WHO, 1993). Life skills are the everyday skills people need to lead a liberated life and the skills they need to identify with other people.

Life skills have been divided into three broad categories as thinking skills, social skills and emotional abilities.

 

 

 

Thinking Skills: Thinking skills are the ability to improve the brain's logical ability with an analytical ability to think creatively and critically, develop problem-solving abilities, and improve decision-making skills.

Social skills: Social skills include interpersonal skills, communication skills, leadership skills, management skills, advocacy skills, cooperation and team building skills, etc.

 

Emotional Skills: Emotional Skills, involves knowing and being familiar with oneself.  This includes self-management, coping/dealing with emotions, stress management and resistance to peer and family pressures.

 

The Need for Life skills Assessment among management students:

Although there is a reasonable theoretical framework for communicating life skills, few behavioral scientists have developed very few scientific tools for assessing life skills. The conceptual review also pointed to the lack of such a benchmark and thus to the need to establish a systematic assessment tool. Early intervention is also enhances the need for a multi dimensional assessment tool when working with a large number of students. In order to identify problems in providing life-skills intervention services, it is extremely important to assess participants' skills in terms of their life skills and to assess the effectiveness of post-intervention services. This study is an effort to establish life skills assessment scale based on the ten basic life skills in line with the framework proposed by the World Health Organization. Conceptually, this tool is based on the WHO framework with 10 basic life skills. The most important and basic ten generic life skills are listed below:

 

Self-awareness: 

It includes one’s own recognition, one’s own character, one’s strengths and weaknesses, one’s wishes and one’s aversions. This helps the student to understand his self-esteem and builds his self-confidence to bravely face life. It also makes it likely to recognize and improve weaknesses or negative personality traits. Some of the self-referential terms are used as synonyms such as self-image, self-concept and self-esteem.

Empathy:

Empathy is the ability to understand and accept different people around you that are different in many ways. Empathy is our mental ability to accept, without mental disorders, people in distress as if we were in such dire straits. It involves understanding one's own feelings as well as the emotional support of that person. Empathy also helps to promote caring behavior towards people in need of care. It helps a student to understand and accept others who are different from him.

Effective communication:

Effective communication is an efficient tool for building and maintaining good social and working relationships with people. It is a way to reach others by communicating ideas, facts, thoughts, feelings, and values. It allows a student to express his opinions, desires, and fears by using verbal communication as well as non-verbal expressions. It also trains teens to seek advice and help from others in times of need. Effective communication for a management student involves three skills - oral, written, and presentation skills.

Interpersonal relationship:

Inter Personal Relations are known as Survival Capabilities, which is very important for building and maintaining social relationships. The interpersonal ability is to initiate and maintain positive relationships with other individuals and to resolve unconstructive relationships with minimal disruption to both.

Relationship to others is an important life skill and one of the most important forms of human intelligence and is referred to as the ability of the human being to provide warmth, care, support and cooperation that give life its excitement and potential for joy and personal fulfillment. It teaches a teenager to engage positively with other people. It also helps him to develop the ability to constructive relationships.

Creative thinking:

Creativity is the ability to breed innovative ideas and convert them from thinking into reality. The process requires original thinking and then production. Creativity is generally used to refer to the generation of new ideas, approaches or actions. Creativity is the ability to produce work that is both new (original and unexpected) and appropriate (useful or fulfills task constraints). It helps a student respond flexibly to the different challenges of life. This allows him to explore possible alternatives and evaluate their consequences. This ability also helps in other life skills like solving problems and making decisions.

Critical Thinking:

Critical thinking is defined as logical thinking and reasoning. It includes abilities such as comparison and classification. Critical thinking is the manifestation on any subject, content, or predicament in which the thinker enriches the quality of his notion by cleverly adopting to the changes innate in thought and enforcing intellectual standards on him. This skill allows a student to objectively analyze information and experiences. It also helps identify factors such as family values, peer pressure and the media that influence attitudes and behaviors.

Decision Making:

Decision making is the ability to choose the best among the various alternatives or options in many life situations. This involves the ability to analyze and weigh the pros and cons of alternatives and to take responsibility for the consequences of the decision with confidence. It enables an student to make constructive decisions about his or her own life, such as the choice of a professions or specialization, the type and amount of food intake, etc. It teaches that decisions are made only after various options and their effects have been evaluated.

Problem solving:

Problem solving skills facilitate students to deal constructively with problems that crop up in our lives. This ability is useful for solving a problem or resolving a conflict. It allows the person to get out of the uncomfortable situation and fulfill their own need without using anger, coercion, defiance, aggressive behavior or violence. Scientifically, solving problems is a process to create a chance for a positive action. It helps a student solve his problems through creative and critical thinking.

Managing emotions:

Dealing with emotions helps individuals to understand feelings about them and others. This ability helps to know that it is normal to have strong feelings and that feelings are neither positive nor negative. The acceptance of feelings is the first step to learning to have more control over them. Life skills enable the individual to find healthy, positive and safe ways to express those feelings. It enables an student to recognize emotions in self and others, to recognize their effects on behavior, and to respond appropriately to emotions. Uncontrolled emotions such as excessive grief and anger are addressed in this dimension.

Coping with stress:

Dealing with stress is something we experience when faced with a situation and our ability to cope with it is called into question. We feel we have lost control over the life events. It is also a perceived threat or imaginary fear. Good Stress (Reliable Stress)which is called as ‘Eustress’ helps us in readiness to take action. Bad stress (uncontrollable stress) is known as ‘distress’ and it brings negative effects on our well-being.  Manifestation of stress could be in the following areas namely mind (Cognition, emotions, body (Physical Reaction), behavior (How We Act), spirituality and balancing work and personal Life. Not able to cope with stress involves memory problems, inability to concentrate, poor judgment, fearful or frenzied thoughts as symptoms in the mind component. Constant worrying, mood swings, irritability are symptoms in the emotion area. Agitation, inability to relax, feeling overstrained and burnout, pain, diarrhea or constipation, nausea, dizziness, chest pain, rapid heartbeat, common cold are symptoms in the physical area. Behavioral symptoms include sense of loneliness and isolation, depression or general dissatisfaction, eating disorder, sleep disorder, isolating from others, slowing or neglecting responsibilities, use of alcohol, cigarettes or drugs for relaxation, angry outbreaks, lack of concentration, nervous habits (eg nail biting, pacing), feelings of exhaustion and  loss of direction and purpose.  In the spirituality area, feeling of emptiness, feeling punished, apathy and crisis of faith are the possible symptoms. Low morale, apathy, rest, communication impair, isolation, lack of teamwork and team spirit, low productivity, aggressive or confrontational behavior, high absenteeism due to stress and illness, drug and alcohol abuse could be the symptoms in the work and life area.

 

Need for life skills education:

The emphasis on the development of life skills lies in the Vedic education system, whose main objective was to develop the physical, moral and intellectual forces of the people. It was not just a theoretical connection with the realities of life. The students understood the different problems of life through listening, intellect, reflection and meditation (Disha-Education, 2015). Life-skills based education is now recognized as a method of addressing a variety of child development issues and thematic responses such as child violence and women's status (World Development Report, 2007). Opportunities need to be created for the development of these skills. The basic institutions that establish these skills are the family, school and college. The Skill India Campaign-2015, which was launched by the Government of India, focuses on developing life skills and other needs-based programs for specific age groups such as language and communication skills, personality development, management skills, behavioral skills, and occupational and employability skills (skillindia.gov.in). The Discussion Paper on the National Curriculum for School Education (NCERT, 2000) has recognized the importance of linking education with life skills. The UNESCO study on life skills (UNESCO, 2000) identifies self-awareness as the first necessary life competence, especially for the disadvantaged and disabled, who need a self-image in non-formal education. The twin of self-perception is empathy be balanced by the awareness of others, their different feelings and desires.

 

In their study, Khera and Khosla (2012) investigated the relationship between self-concept and core competencies among randomly selected 500 students in Sarvodaya schools in South Delhi, who had completed the YUVA School Life Skills Program (SLP). They indicated that there is a positive correlation between the affective life skills and the self-concept of the students, which means that those who have these essential skills have better confidence in all aspects.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

his topic has been an important area for researchers, theorists and practitioners, and numerous studies have been undertaken to highlight the importance and effectiveness of life skills communication in the social, emotional and cognitive development of students with their psychosocial problems and problems.

 

According to Albertyn et al. (2004) increase the critical thinking capacity that will influence active living in the future, responsible for work and future planning.

 

Ramesh and Farshad S. (2004) demonstrated in their study the effectiveness of teaching skills in mental and physical health as well as in social behaviour and in the reduction of behavioural, social and self-destructive behaviours.

 

Smith et al. (2004) found  noteworthy  enhancement in interpersonal relationships and  marked decline in  aggression and behavioural problems.

 

Tuttle et al., (2006), add life skills to the curriculum during their research. The results of this study showed the exceptional ability of adolescents to be positive and flexible.

 

Vranda and Rao (2011) showed that the acquisition of psychosocial skills increased their psychosocial competence.

 

In her study, Puspakumarag (2013) found that life skills can prevent various problems such as substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, violence, bullying, and the promotion of self-esteem and self-esteem. self-esteem in adolescents.

 

According to Roodbari, Sahdipoor and Ghale (2013)  life skills training has a positive impact  and augments social development, emotional and social adjustment, paving way to better compatibility with peers and psychological well-being. This article focuses on how improving social, emotional and mental skills through lifelong learning helps 21st century youth achieve their goals, ability to meet the needs and needs of modern society and succeed in the world.

 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the life skills of management students. The study sample included post graduate management students studying in an engineering college.

 

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

The present study was conducted with the following objectives:

•     To assess the life skills of the post graduate management students

•     To identify the influence of demographic variables like gender and background education on the life skills of management students.

 

Reliability statistics:

Life Skills Assessment questionnaire was developed by the author for conducting this study which is a multi-dimensional and consists of 60 items in the form of statements with a built-in 5-point scale for the respondent to choose the appropriate answer that is most descriptive of him: Always true of me, very true of me, sometimes true of me, occasionally true of me and not at all true of me. It has both positive and negative points. The Life Skills Assessment questionnaire measures twelve (12) dimensions of life skills. The scores obtained under each dimension represent the level of life skills in each area.

 

 

Cronbach's alpha, test retest and split-half coefficients were used to determine reliability while facial and content validity was tested for the life skills assessment scale.

 

Table No.1.0 shows the reliability statistics and proves the data could support 79.3 percentages reliable to do this analysis.  The developed questionnaire has undergone Cronbach Alpha testing for testing its reliability and the value is given below:

 

TABLE NO.1.0 Reliability Statistics:

Cronbach's Alpha	N of Items
.793	60

 

Limitations of the Study:

A limitation of this study lies in its small sample size. However, there exists the potential for studying these factors for a wider population and in other branches of higher education.

Gender Wise Analysis:

Table No. 2 Gender-wise analysis of Life skills amongst Post graduate management students.

Report
Gender		Critical thinking	Problem solving	Oral communication	Written communication	Presentation skills	Creative thinking
Female	Mean	3.5409	3.8955	3.6682	3.6227	3.6773	3.3455
	N	44	44	44	44	44	44
	Std. Deviation	.39902	.38697	.49733	.46699	.42528	.51465
	Median	3.6000	4.0000	3.8000	3.6000	3.6000	3.3000
	Std. Error of Mean	.06015	.05834	.07498	.07040	.06411	.07759
Male	Mean	3.5356	3.9458	3.7288	3.5390	3.6102	3.3492
	N	59	59	59	59	59	59
	Std. Deviation	.39206	.37477	.43273	.56843	.56376	.47647
	Median	3.6000	4.0000	3.8000	3.6000	3.6000	3.4000
	Std. Error of Mean	.05104	.04879	.05634	.07400	.07340	.06203
Total	Mean	3.5379	3.9243	3.7029	3.5748	3.6388	3.3476
	N	103	103	103	103	103	103
	Std. Deviation	.39311	.37897	.46006	.52668	.50802	.49067
	Median	3.6000	4.0000	3.8000	3.6000	3.6000	3.4000
	Std. Error of Mean	.03873	.03734	.04533	.05190	.05006	.04835

 

Table No. 2 contiune

Report
Gender		Inter personal	Self awareness	Empathy	Coping with stress	Managing emotions	Decisionmaking
Female	Mean	3.3545	3.9318	3.4500	3.9318	3.5955	3.3182
	N	44	44	44	44	44	44
	Std. Deviation	.50828	.39519	.54921	.50659	.46951	.34050
	Median	3.4000	4.0000	3.4000	3.9000	3.6000	3.4000
	Std. Error of Mean	.07663	.05958	.08280	.07637	.07078	.05133
Male	Mean	3.3797	3.9153	3.2814	3.9017	3.6068	3.3492
	N	59	59	59	59	59	59
	Std. Deviation	.43103	.42864	.53320	.46590	.53041	.48365
	Median	3.4000	4.0000	3.2000	4.0000	3.6000	3.2000
	Std. Error of Mean	.05612	.05580	.06942	.06066	.06905	.06297
Total	Mean	3.3689	3.9223	3.3534	3.9146	3.6019	3.3359
	N	103	103	103	103	103	103
	Std. Deviation	.46337	.41277	.54392	.48150	.50293	.42676
	Median	3.4000	4.0000	3.4000	4.0000	3.6000	3.4000
	Std. Error of Mean	.04566	.04067	.05359	.04744	.04956	.04205

 

 

Figure No.1 Gender-wise analysis of Life skills amongst Post graduate management students

 

Findings of the study:

The study analyzed the skill-sets of post graduate students pursuing management education.  The life skills like critical thinking, problem solving, presentation skills, creative thinking and managing emotions were found to be at the similar level.   Female students score slightly better over their male counter parts in skills such as written communication, being empathetic and in managing stress.  Male students score slightly more than female students, in skills such as problem solving, oral communication, interpersonal skills and decision making capabilities may be due to the socio-cultural fabric of the country which provides a slightly higher degree of freedom and authority to males rather than females.

Educational  Background wise Analysis of Life skills:

Report
Educational qualification		Critical thinking	Problem solving	Oral communication	Written communication	Presentation skills	Creative thinking
BE	Mean	3.7500	4.2000	4.0500	4.0000	3.9000	3.9000
	N	4	4	4	4	4	4
	Std. Deviation	.44347	.51640	.37859	.81650	.66332	.38297
	Median	3.8000	4.2000	3.9000	4.0000	4.1000	4.0000
	Std. Error of Mean	.22174	.25820	.18930	.40825	.33166	.19149
BCA	Mean	3.7000	3.9000	4.0500	3.7500	3.6000	3.1000
	N	4	4	4	4	4	4
	Std. Deviation	.38297	.11547	.37859	.50000	.43205	.34641
	Median	3.8000	3.9000	3.9000	3.7000	3.5000	3.0000
	Std. Error of Mean	.19149	.05774	.18930	.25000	.21602	.17321
BCom	Mean	3.5095	3.8833	3.6571	3.5405	3.6238	3.3262
	N	84	84	84	84	84	84
	Std. Deviation	.37048	.37023	.42520	.50518	.49226	.48074
	Median	3.6000	4.0000	3.8000	3.6000	3.6000	3.4000
	Std. Error of Mean	.04042	.04040	.04639	.05512	.05371	.05245
BBM/BBA	Mean	3.8000	4.1000	3.7250	3.5500	3.6000	3.5750
	N	8	8	8	8	8	8
	Std. Deviation	.50143	.42762	.71664	.64807	.67612	.54968
	Median	3.8000	4.1000	3.8000	3.3000	3.5000	3.5000
	Std. Error of Mean	.17728	.15119	.25337	.22913	.23905	.19434
B.Sc/M.Sc	Mean	3.1333	4.2667	4.0000	3.8000	3.8667	2.9333
	N	3	3	3	3	3	3
	Std. Deviation	.30551	.23094	.60000	.40000	.57735	.11547
	Median	3.2000	4.4000	4.0000	3.8000	4.2000	3.0000
	Std. Error of Mean	.17638	.13333	.34641	.23094	.33333	.06667
Total	Mean	3.5379	3.9243	3.7029	3.5748	3.6388	3.3476
	N	103	103	103	103	103	103
	Std. Deviation	.39311	.37897	.46006	.52668	.50802	.49067
	Median	3.6000	4.0000	3.8000	3.6000	3.6000	3.4000
	Std. Error of Mean	.03873	.03734	.04533	.05190	.05006	.04835

continue

Report
Educational qualification		Interpersonal	Self awareness	Empathy	Coping with stress	Managing emotions	Decision-making
BE	Mean	3.8000	4.0000	3.3000	3.7500	3.7500	3.1500
	N	4	4	4	4	4	4
	Std. Deviation	.43205	.51640	.25820	.37859	.44347	.75498
	Median	3.7000	4.0000	3.3000	3.9000	3.8000	3.2000
	Std. Error of Mean	.21602	.25820	.12910	.18930	.22174	.37749
BCA	Mean	3.2000	4.1500	3.7000	3.9500	3.6500	3.3000
	N	4	4	4	4	4	4
	Std. Deviation	.58878	.19149	.68313	.19149	.66081	.52915
	Median	3.3000	4.1000	3.8000	3.9000	3.7000	3.4000
	Std. Error of Mean	.29439	.09574	.34157	.09574	.33040	.26458
BCom	Mean	3.3643	3.9000	3.3405	3.8976	3.6024	3.3476
	N	84	84	84	84	84	84
	Std. Deviation	.45751	.40894	.57059	.49332	.50491	.40493
	Median	3.4000	3.9000	3.2000	3.9000	3.6000	3.4000
	Std. Error of Mean	.04992	.04462	.06226	.05383	.05509	.04418
BBM/BBA	Mean	3.2750	3.9750	3.3750	4.0500	3.6500	3.3500
	N	8	8	8	8	8	8
	Std. Deviation	.45277	.55997	.36154	.57321	.39641	.36645
	Median	3.5000	4.0000	3.3000	3.9000	3.6000	3.2000
	Std. Error of Mean	.16008	.19798	.12783	.20266	.14015	.12956
B.Sc/M.Sc	Mean	3.4000	4.0000	3.2667	4.2000	3.2000	3.2667
	N	3	3	3	3	3	3
	Std. Deviation	.52915	.20000	.23094	.20000	.72111	.80829
	Median	3.2000	4.0000	3.4000	4.2000	3.0000	2.8000
	Std. Error of Mean	.30551	.11547	.13333	.11547	.41633	.46667
Total	Mean	3.3689	3.9223	3.3534	3.9146	3.6019	3.3359
	N	103	103	103	103	103	103
	Std. Deviation	.46337	.41277	.54392	.48150	.50293	.42676
	Median	3.4000	4.0000	3.4000	4.0000	3.6000	3.4000
	Std. Error of Mean	.04566	.04067	.05359	.04744	.04956	.04205

 

The study considered the educational background of the students also.  In the case of BE graduates skills like empathy and decision making skills are comparatively low where as they are good in problem solving skills as they have undergone a professional course, may be their skill levels are comparatively higher.

 

In the case of BCA students self awareness and oral communication skills are high when compared to other skills.  Skills like creative thinking and interpersonal relations are comparatively lower.

 

B.Com students are in majority among respondents. In self awareness and problem solving they have higher values than in skills like creative thinking, interpersonal skills, empathy and decision making.

 

In the case of BBM/BBA students they show adequate skill levels in skills like problem solving and coping with stress whereas they score low in skills like interpersonal skills and empathy.

 

Students with Science background score higher values in skills like problem solving and oral communication where as  in creative thinking and critical thinking their scores are low.

 

On the whole creative thinking and decision making skills are on the lower side.  In critical thinking, creative thinking and managing emotions science student’s scores are low compared to the overall mean scores.

 

The findings of the study indicate that the level of life skills of postgraduate students is moderate. The researcher found a significant difference in terms of different personal and demographic variables. The introduction of curriculum based on life skills education can develop students' basic skills. The study is most useful for administrators, teachers, curriculum developers and other community workers to enhance student learning and personal development.

 

Strategies for augmenting Life skills:

Different strategies that can be gainfully employed  to augment Life Skills in management students are as follows:

DISCUSSIONS IN THE CLASSROOM: 

an activity that allows students to learn and practice, helping each other solve problems. Allows students to deepen their comprehension of the subject and internalize their connection with it, develop skills like listening, assertiveness and empathy.

Brainstorming: 

allows students to quickly and spontaneously generate ideas. Help students use their imagination and think outside the box. The class can create ideas creatively. It is important to assess the advantages and disadvantages of each idea or to evaluate ideas based on specific criteria.

Role-play: 

In addition to interesting activities and involving the whole class in active and collaborative work, it also offers an excellent strategy for practical skills; experience with a possible situation in real life; Increase empathy for others and their point of view; and a better understanding of one's own feelings.

Groups. Groups are useful when time is limited because they maximize the contribution of students. Enables students to interact with each other, get to know each other better, which improves teamwork and teamwork.

Develop games and modeling: This promotes fun, active learning and active discussion, as participants work hard to prove their points or score points. They require the exchange of knowledge, attitudes and skills, and allow students to test hypotheses and abilities in a relatively safe environment

Situation analysis and case studies: allows to analyze, study, solve and test solutions and dilemmas; provide the opportunity to work in teams, share ideas, share new knowledge and insights, and sometimes help to see things differently.

Case studies are strong catalysts for reflection and discussion. Engaging in this reflection process, students improve their own critical thinking and decision-making skills. It is also an opportunity to resist risks or challenges and find ways to overcome them.

Storytelling: Can help students think about local issues and develop critical thinking, creative writing or storytelling skills. "Story Story" gives you the opportunity to make an analogy or make comparisons to find useful solutions. It also builds attention, concentration, listening and develops patience and perseverance.

Discussions provides an opportunity for a thorough and creative solution to a specific problem. Health problems are well adapted: students can, for example, discuss the ban on smoking in public places in the community. This allows the student to defend a position that means a lot to them. This allows you to practice the skills of higher thinking.

 

Educational Implications:

Life skills are effective for adaptive and positive behavior; the findings are useful for understanding the basic skills for life and its functional role in education and day to day life. These skills are more useful for students to encounter a problem and find a solution. These skills are of great value in their development of personality and emotional fitness. Teachers and parents need to understand the value of life skills and develop, organize, and execute practical life skills programs to make the students  smart. Life skills also help students to promote their mental health and competence.

 

CONCLUSION:

The objectives of the Life skills programme is to help students understand themselves and understand each other better, to live in a more competent and conscious way, to personally and academically achieve personal satisfaction and the fulfillment of their goals. If the academic institution does not develop effective tolerance, cosmopolitanism, deep knowledge of world affairs and peace, the likelihood of a battle of civilizations predicted by Samuel Huntington will increase (Huntington, 1993: 28). The education system should focus on this subject as each student has to realize his potential. The system must believe in the individuality of each student and help the student cope with the vicissitudes of life. The education system has to deal with the environment. To transform these behaviors into a student, the system should enrich the school curriculum with a highly professional and effective life skills training program. Teachers and decision makers should focus on students' needs and overall skills to provide students with an ideal approach.

 

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Received on 23.03.2018                Modified on 11.04.2018

Accepted on 28.04.2018           ©A&V Publications All right reserved