There was a time not too long ago when education was all about three things – arithmetic, writing, and reading. These were considered to be the basic skills deemed essential to ensure a successful future for our children. We have come a long way from those times into the 21st century where we are immersed in the widest array of subjects and co-curricular activities, along with evolved pedagogies and multiple intelligence theories. With increasing emphasis being levied on being out of the box and unique in the way of approaching problems, it is high time for us to break the mold as well, and consider the modern day skills to instill in our children.
We, at K.R. Mangalam World School, believe that the aim of modern education should be to empower the children. Its purpose should be to enable the kids to cope with the vast ocean of knowledge that they have access to, and thus, make their name in this technology-driven, hyper-competitive economy. The only way of ensuring that this happens successfully is to instil the 21st-century skills in the children that helps them to not only navigate their way but rather excel in the world that we have today.
So, what exactly are 21st-century skills?
Before we delve deeper into the importance of 21st-century skills, let’s take a look into what can be considered as a modern day skill set. By these skills, we refer to the abilities that are meant to help children keep up with the rapid pace of modern markets and become viable as professionals in this age of the internet.
We can call them the second tier of skills because these are essentially based on the initial framework of three skills we mentioned earlier. With the thorough knowledge of those basic skills, the modern day skills are built by touching upon the themes of global awareness, civic understanding, economics, entrepreneurial literacy, health know-how, and environmental concerns.
The importance of modern day skills for our children
Now that we have thrown some light on what modern skills imply, let’s take stock of why they are considered so important for the young gen kids.
- To instill in them the ability to adapt to the changes
The business world is now regularly disrupted by new methodologies and ideas. When we instill children with the ability to adapt to changes, we make sure that they will not be left behind in this fast paced world. We make sure that they have a solid ground to work shoulder to shoulder with their competition.
- To enable them to develop modern solutions to modern problems
When we consider the present day and go back to how life was at least ten years ago, the change that we have experienced would seem baffling. The change has brought with itself some new and unique problems, and it is our duty to teach children to keep up with the times by coming up with equally distinctive solutions.
- To understand the best use of the available technologies
Technology is both the boon and the bane of our existence. When used in the right manner, it helps us touch the zenith of success, and misusing it can bring in doom faster than one can take cover. Thus, the first lessons on the best use and the need for advanced technology have to ideally start early on during the school years.
- To enable the kids to better thrive in future
Last but not least, having the modern day skills ensure that our children have a brighter future. By instilling them with the 21st-century skills, we can help them learn, remember, and implement knowledge in a way that they can write their own success stories in any path they choose in the future.
We, at the K.R. Mangalam World School, one among the best schools in Central Delhi, firmly believe that only when we enable our kids with the modern day skills, we help to pave the path for them to adapt better to the society and the world as a whole. After all, we all want to see our children achieve as much success as they can in their lives, and at the same time, turn out to be fruitful contributors to the society. And this is exactly what we can hope to achieve by instilling in them the 21st-century skills.