SEMESTER I – 100908/EN100E: LIFE SKILLS
MODULE I: INTRODUCTION TO LIFE SKILLS
Learning Resources
Department of Basic Sciences & Humanities
LIFE SKILLS – MEANING & SIGNIFICANCE
, UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund, originally known as the United Nations
International Children's Emergency Fund) defines Life Skills as psychosocial abilities for
adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands
and challenges of everyday life. They are loosely grouped into three broad categories of
skills: cognitive skills for analyzing and using information, personal skills for developing
personal agency and managing oneself, and inter-personal skills for communicating and
interacting effectively with others.
Life Skills become essential in the face of demands of modern life, poor parenting, changing
family structure, dysfunctional relationships, new understanding of young people’s needs,
decline of religion, and rapid sociocultural change.
As laid down by the Department of Mental Health, World Health Organization, Geneva in
1999:
Life Skills education is designed to facilitate the practice and reinforcement of psychosocial
skills in a culturally and developmentally appropriate way; it contributes to the promotion
of personal and social development, the prevention of health and social problems, and the
protection of human rights.
WHO considers Life Skills as essential for:
the promotion of healthy child and adolescent development;
primary prevention of some key causes of child and adolescent death, disease and
disability;
socialization;
preparing young people for changing social circumstances.
As envisaged by WHO, Life Skills education contributes to:
basic education;
gender equality;
democracy;
good citizenship;
child care and protection;
quality and efficiency of the education system;
the promotion of lifelong learning;
quality of life;
the promotion of peace.
MODULE I: INTRODUCTION TO LIFE SKILLS
Learning Resources
Department of Basic Sciences & Humanities
LIFE SKILLS – MEANING & SIGNIFICANCE
, UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund, originally known as the United Nations
International Children's Emergency Fund) defines Life Skills as psychosocial abilities for
adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands
and challenges of everyday life. They are loosely grouped into three broad categories of
skills: cognitive skills for analyzing and using information, personal skills for developing
personal agency and managing oneself, and inter-personal skills for communicating and
interacting effectively with others.
Life Skills become essential in the face of demands of modern life, poor parenting, changing
family structure, dysfunctional relationships, new understanding of young people’s needs,
decline of religion, and rapid sociocultural change.
As laid down by the Department of Mental Health, World Health Organization, Geneva in
1999:
Life Skills education is designed to facilitate the practice and reinforcement of psychosocial
skills in a culturally and developmentally appropriate way; it contributes to the promotion
of personal and social development, the prevention of health and social problems, and the
protection of human rights.
WHO considers Life Skills as essential for:
the promotion of healthy child and adolescent development;
primary prevention of some key causes of child and adolescent death, disease and
disability;
socialization;
preparing young people for changing social circumstances.
As envisaged by WHO, Life Skills education contributes to:
basic education;
gender equality;
democracy;
good citizenship;
child care and protection;
quality and efficiency of the education system;
the promotion of lifelong learning;
quality of life;
the promotion of peace.
