Soft Skills in Education

We have come to an age where only a degree and a handful of certificates are not enough to outshine the competition. Training in areas like communication skills and worldview development has become quintessential. Collectively known as soft skills, these skills refer to the capacity and ability of an individual to adapt to changing circumstances.

Themed on ‘Soft Skills in Education’, the current edition of Education Today focuses on the importance of soft skills in education and career, how to develop them, and various ways to improve them.

What does the term ‘Soft Skills’ actually mean? How is it gaining prominence in this rapidly changing competitive world? This issue’s Cover Story gathers insights on these questions from a cross-section of students, teachers, HR professionals and employers.

Mr. Mohammed Zeeshan is the CEO and Co-Founder of MyCaptain – an online mentoring platform. His vision has always been to impact education and bring a societal mindset shift when it comes to careers in India and all across the World. In an exclusive interview with Education Today, he says that the candidate who has a better flair for communication, writing, time management etc. is going to be preferred over a candidate that doesn’t have these soft skills.

Soft skills are such a crucial element, that often gets misplaced and ignored. The requirement of these skills, be it communication, listening, or even as simple as time management is crucial to any individual’s development and progress. It is this discipline that often makes future leaders stand apart from followers, observes Mr. Yatharth Gautam, Director & CMO, Birla Open Mind International School in a tête-à-tête with Education Today.

Mr. Kimaru Thagana, an independent writer based in Nairobi, Kenya through his illuminating article says that soft skills, sometimes if not most, will be the more important skill one would rather possess. The hard skills may get you the job, the soft skills will keep you there.

Practically every job now requires you to deal with data, and technology has simplified analytics and enabled data-driven decisions. As a result, reskilling becomes imperative in today’s world to keep up with the demand for new skills for improved outcomes, opines Mr. Gaurav Vohra, Co-founder, and CEO, Jigsaw Academy in his intriguing article on new skills.

In a globalized world that is fast evolving where soft skills and technology are playing an integral part, what defines a teacher who is International in her approach? Analyses Dr. Anuradha Sridhar, Head – Curriculum Development & Training, Aditya Birla Education Academy in her article.

Also, read our exclusive interviews with Mr. Phalgun Kompalli, Co-founder, upGrad on the status quo of the online education sector in India and Professor Samit Ray, the founder of RICE Education in Bengal and the Chancellor of Adamas University, on the current transformational scenario in Indian higher education.

Have a nice read…