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About 'Life skills' initiative around the world:

 -

Of late you might have been hearing the word 'life-skills' education. Many school boards and universities are including life skills education into their curriculum. Many companies are training their employees on life skills.

In India CBSE board has made Life Skills training compulsory, and most other Boards are following it up. Engineering colleges are incorporating life skills training to ensure that students are made industry-ready; Bangalore University has made it compulsory for Arts, Science and Commerce students to study Life Skills in 4th Semester.

What is 'life skills' ?

Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable humans to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of life. Life is dynamic which is full of constant changes, for which one is expected to be adaptable.

Life skills is a term used to describe a set of basic skills acquired through learning and/or direct life experience that enable individuals and groups to effectively handle issues and problems commonly encountered in daily life.

Most of us pocess many areas of life skills naturally, but there are many more skills for which we need to learn.

Life skills touch upon issues that are:

- real: they actually affect people’s lives

- topical

- sometimes sensitive: they can affect people on a personal level, especially when family or friends are involved

- often controversial: people disagree and hold strong opinions about them

ultimately moral:- they relate to what people think is right or wrong, good or bad, important or unimportant in society. (British council website).

Life skills have been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) of United Nations as the most important learning and an asset to lead a fulfilling life. 

 The demand for the professionals to work in life skills is increasing day by day. Many prestigious corporate and business organisations are looking for soft-skills trained candidates.

Frameworks around life skills:

There are many international education and research organisations which have been working to frame life skills practices, famously these frameworks are known as SEL- (Socio-emotional learning).

The three widely acclaimed (Socio-emotional learning SEL) frameworks – 

1. CASEL (Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning, USA), 

2. SEAL (Social and Emotional aspects of Learning, UK) and

3. WHO (Life skills program), 

all have contributed significantly toward the compilation of the Integrated  SEL Framework. Few experts have found that the CASEL's 5 competencies were found to be comprehensive and reflecting in the other frameworks.

In Bangalore a very prominent organization Banjara Academy does training on life skills, which is been working from past 30 years in counselling, training, empowering trainers and imparting life skills, They also offer programs to empower systematically and scientifically either to learn for yourself or to guide others, i.e. adults, youngsters or children to improve their quality of life. 

This course at Banjara is managed by professionals, the course is meant for people of all backgrounds, and is conducted with the explicit aim of empowering you in the practical realm.  This is a course with a practical orientation -- to understand, master, and practice Life Skills and if desired, teach them to children, adolescents, students and adults. 

Course Content:

The program has been built on the 10 essential Life Skills propounded by World Health Organization (WHO), which are:

Problem Solving

Decision Making

Creative Thinking

Critical Thinking

Communication Skills

Interpersonal Relations

Empathy

Self awareness

Managing emotions

Management of stress

The course has techniques and methods adapted to Indian conditions, and various other relevant issues are added.  These include Self esteem, Assertiveness, importance of free play organized play, team building, Openness, flexibility, Story-telling / Narratives, Adolescent behaviour, Peer pressure, bullying, tantrums, role modelling, sex education, sexuality, boy-girl relationships, and of course Value Education with topics like Honesty, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Compassion, Respect, Purpose of Life.

Eligibility:

This program is Open to all adults who are concerned and want to understand the importance of Life Skills as an essential aspect of handling growth, challenges and smooth development.

While the program is meant for persons with an academic background up to graduation level, those with and lesser qualification are also considered on interview, if they are caring and sensitive human beings and have had sufficient exposure to life.


What you need is the right attitude to strictly follow the guidelines of the course and the Academy, and a sincere commitment to understand human beings and to guide people sincerely in terms of their future-plans and careers.

Upcoming sessions:

Duration & Inauguration:

Duration: 4 months

Starts on Sunday 7th March, ends on 20th June, 2021

Inaugural Class will be held on 7th March 2021 through a live Webinar from 10.30 to 12 noon

Attendance of this session is compulsory.

ICLS program consists of 16 Lessons

Every Monday you will receive a Video lesson along with written notes via Email.

There will be a weekly Mentoring (live on-line) session. You will be allotted one of the following online sessions:

Thursday 4:30pm to 5:00 pm  or  Saturdays 10:30 am to 11 am

(You may convey your preference)

Commitment from students:

This course is meant for mature individuals who have had sufficient experience of life and who can think calmly, understand the aspirations of HUMAN BEINGS and balance the needs of your own self and others. 

There are no theory exams and students can feel free to have a self paced course, reading the notes, watching videos and trying out activities suggested by academy from time to time.

About the Academy:

Banjara and its alumni are associated with a number of institutions to conduct Life Skills programs.

Banjara Academy has been conducting counselling, career guidance and other Life Skills programs for more than thirty years, both for general participants as well as for specialized groups such as doctors, teachers, social workers, defence personnel, special needs children, executives, etc. The workshops have been well received and acknowledged by professionals and lay people alike. Appreciation has been received from government and non-government organizations, psychiatrists, psychologists, educators, medical professionals, etc. Regular training has been conducted by Team Banjara at Schools, Colleges, Corporate, and Universities etc.


Short-term workshops are conducted periodically on parenting, child development, team building, disability and rehabilitation, old age, communication, handling emotions, adolescent issues, etc.  


Banjara also networks with various government and non-government agencies working in similar and complementary fields, and plays host to networking and group activities.


The Academy maintains an exhaustive library of books on all aspects of human behaviour, notes and literature for perusal by students, and also holds free lectures by eminent persons in the field. Books can be borrowed free of cost against a nominal annual fee. Many books on counselling & human behaviour published by the Academy are available at economical price.


Since more than three decades, the Academy has been actively and exhaustively conducting Life Skills workshops in innumerable cities all over the country. Aptitude Testing and Career Guidance is done on individual basis in a very holistic manner.  Thousands of young people have reported very positive outcomes through the guidance.

  Few key people:

: Dr. Ali Khwaja B.Tech (IIT), MIE, MIIM, Ph.D. writes regular career columns in Deccan Herald and other reputed publications, 


Mrs. Purnima Ganesh also is been connected with the academy. She has conducted innumerable Life skills workshop for various age groups across schools, colleges, armed forces. She has been invited for television talks on understanding children and teenagers. 

After course placement:


So far the Academy has been successful in providing placement to those students who were interested in regular jobs. The students are working in reputed NGOs, educational institutions, hospitals, corporate houses and specialized counselling centres.  Also, many have been provided with opportunities to do counselling part time or on honorary basis for experience.


Many students have established and are successfully running their own counselling and training centres (the founder of life skills blog on which this article is published is an Alma Mater of academy), or are attached to prestigious institutions. Similarly, they have enhanced their guidance skills and are more effective in their work after Banjara’s courses.

Recognition:

Due to its practical emphasis, the course has been designed for creating effective understanding of Life Skills rather than merely imparting theoretical knowledge. Hence the course is not affiliated to any university, and no government recognition has been sought. They are full voting members for World Federation of Mental Health.


The various courses run by the Academy are well received by innumerable government and private organizations, including reputed NGOs, educational institutions, eminent professionals and commercial establishments, for whom the Academy has been conducting lectures, training and workshops. 


Academy also runs an Accredited Vocational Institute of National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) for Early Childhood Care and Education. UNO has also sponsored students from different countries to Banjara courses.


Note from life skills blog:

The above details are taken from the course prospectus of Banjara Academy, the founder of 'life skills' blog is an alumni of Banjara Academy (DCS Batch 11- Maaz Mohammed AQ- email- reach.clf@gmail.com).

This life skills blog does not have any legal connection with the academy, this blog is published as a good will gesture with the Alma Mater.

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