Excellence is not a gift, it is a skill that takes practice, we do not act rightly because we are excellent in fact we achieve excellence because we act rightly.- Plato

Life skills is a term used to describe a set of basic skills acquired through learning and/or direct life experience that enable learners to effectively handle issues and problems commonly encountered in daily life and sometimes adapt to face and meet challenges.

The ability to communicate and collaborate, along with personal and social responsibility that contribute to good citizenship – all essential skills for success in the 21st century, both for healthy societies and for successful and employable individuals.

The Ten core Life Skills as laid down by WHO are:
Self-awareness, Empathy, Critical thinking, Creative thinking, Decisionmaking, ProblemSolving, Effectivecommunication, Interpersonalrelationship, Coping with stress and Managing emotions
The Life skills programme at SJPS is unique in that, in addition to have it integrated with all the subjects, we have exclusive classes once a week for the classes 6 to 10, with an exclusive Life skills trainer as well.

These classes are highly interactive and activity based classes, where learners are engaged in thought provoking activities such as debates, pair work, discussions, role plays and case studies.

In addition to broadly following the Life skills manual provided by CBSE covering the ten core Life skills, we also encourage learners to express themselves freely in work books provided for each learner. Life skills trainer facilitates these activities and brings out the 3 ‘c’s – creativity, collaboration (team work) and communicationskills in the learners.

Learners are also shown thought provoking short films and TED talk and they are encouraged to talk about their take on the video clips. Many learners are challenged by these video sessions and take very important and firm decisions. Topics such as bullying, social issues like child labour and environmental cleanliness have struck very important chords with our learners.

In order to prepare the learners for a challenging life style in all levels we have introduced basic life skills and to learners right from kindergarten to class five. These include person grooming and self management skills.
These skills are also reinforced through special focus programmes for primary and middle school classes. Here learners are exposed to sessions covering these topics in depth with visual and auditory inputs .These sessions happen in the school auditorium.

Helping the learner prepare for the everyday challenges of life has been the crux of this program. We also collaborate with the school counsellor who gives valuable support and inputs when dealing with the emotional skills of learners. Infact emotional skills and self awareness forms the back bone from which all other skills take root and branch out. A learner who is confident about his strength and aware of his weaknesses will be able to make good decisions ad will be well equipped to solve problems. An emotionally balanced learner will be free to allow his mid to think critically analytically and creatively.

Hence the Life skills education at SJPS is a seamlessly integrated programme that equips our learners with the skills and attitude that one requires to overcome barriers and expand the boundaries of the ever evolving tapestry of life.