PRINCIPALS’ MEET: LIFE SKILLS & EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Divya Sharma Amritsar, December 10 A total of 50 educators attended the Annual Principal Meet organised by The Tribune Group of Newspapers in association with Chandigarh University on Tuesday. Principals from Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran district participated in the 2019 meet titled 'A special seminar for Leaders in School Education'. The session divided into two segments saw Prof. (retd) Gurupdesh Singh, retd Professor of English at Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) and RS Bawa, Vice-Chancellor, Chandigarh University, presenting their views on emotional intelligence and life skills. Both speakers deliberated upon the aspects of emotional intelligence, and ways to inculcate it among students at school level. Addressing the gathering, Gurupdesh Singh, said, “Nowadays, people in interviews often talk about a missing element in candidates. This missing element is life skills or emotional intelligence. Life skills were never part of any syllabus, but it is of great significance, especially as education's role has evolved over the years. ” He also listed constitutes of life skills given by the World Health Organisation. “Life is full of idealism, and teaching is one profession that allows idealism to be instilled in others. As per the WHO, life skill consists of skills like communication skills, decision making, creative and critical thinking, self-awareness and resilience,” he added. Singh explained each point in detail by giving multiple examples, “People need to be focused. Self-awareness can help in achieving self-control this it is what makes us different from animals". “Train students to observe small things, do not discourage them, give them the freedom to express themselves, encourage them to think creatively. A teacher in a class can ask the students to come up with creative solutions for any situation,” he added. Gurupdesh Singh in his lecture also talked about the pressure of completing the syllabus on teachers; need to use their time to develop life skills, emotional intelligence in their pupils. “The teacher is already under pressure of meeting the deadline of finishing syllabus, but this pressure should not make a teacher overlook the importance making learning fun and engaging for the students. There might be systematic concerns, but a path has to be carved,” stressed Singh. He also focused on the relevance of thinking skills for teachers, students, “the UGC-NET paper has also dedicated an important segment to judge the thinking skills of the candidate.” He advised the principals to use feedback mechanisms in their schools, encourage their teachers to upgrade their skills. Underlining the significance of discipline and strictness for a teacher, he said, “If you are a strict teacher, people will not like you but at the end they will appreciate you.” In his session, RS Bawa shared how emotional intelligence and life skills had been incorporated in the instruction module in his university. He said, “Emotional intelligence can be learnt throughout life. What is right today might be wrong tomorrow. Therefore, it is important to empower and enable youth, their ideas. Enable them to learn new things, empower them to execute them. One has to make them understand the value of things; they are not being deprived of things. It is creating a conflict.” Highlighting the importance of emotional intelligence Bawa said, “Exposure to knowledge is important, but making students capable of reacting, managing life experiences is what makes a person prepared to face the challenges of life,” he said. Principalspeak Rajiv Kumar Sharma, Spring Dale Senior Secondary School, Amritsar The beauty of emotional intelligence is that it is something that can be taught. There is no need for a separate syllabus. A holistic environment can develop this skill in students. Such discussions are need of the hour. People can become life coaches by mastering this skill. Students need to be informed about emotional intelligence. Principals and teachers have to be role models to inculcate life skills in the young generation. These skills are not taught, but grasped by young and fertile minds. We have such values. Information about them exits in our books, but they need to be practiced. The meet was a commendable effort. Discussion on such matters is required. Such skills should be taught and discussed at college level also. Inculcating them in children helps us produce good citizens. We need to practise expermimental learning and character building. We should give moral support to children to make them capable of fighting tough situations.

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