Need for child development

The children of today are the future of tomorrow, thus, shaping their lives is of utmost importance. I have always believed that children can be moulded into various forms at their growth stage. They should be handled with care and should be provided with multiple experiences not only to develop their character but also to make them industry-ready. Technology has become an integral part of our lives and will remain so in the future as well. Therefore, it is very important to integrate technology into the lives of the students, which, however, needs to be done wisely and with perseverance. The focus should be to create future leaders who are not only responsible towards their country’s people but also passionate towards the country. With the world changing rapidly and complexity seeping, the market is growing at a rate that is 5 times faster than it was today. Today’s kids would be working in jobs that do not exist now but would enter the market in the future. Thus, the approach should be to ensure the holistic development of today’s kids.

Development should begin at the school level

It is seen that the students are given training for industrial work from graduation or post-graduation level. However, awareness should be developed amongst students at a young age to motivate them to work on developing their skills. Working closely with students for ages, I know that today’s students need to be forward thinkers to recognize their issues and explore ways to improve. A kid should be trained to be able to gain knowledge from every experience. Thus, they should be exposed to opportunities to interact with others and be self-confident about themselves. Humility is another aspect that mentors should work on to help the students develop an urge to learn and explore.

Measures to prepare the children for the future

We, as the mentors of future leaders, need to shape them up in such a way that they explore learning as a process of preparation to excel in their careers. Challenges act as barriers for individuals to achieve success in their fields but they also act as a guiding force for the students to discover themselves. We can adopt the following measures to prepare our future generation:

● Focus on developing skills: The industry, currently, has been focusing on skill-based employees and this trend is here to stay. It is important for teachers and parents to focus on developing communication skills. Good communication is important to develop connections, which can further help in entering jobs and building rapport with colleagues. Another major skill that needs to be incorporated in students includes problem-solving, as it is considered crucial for bagging opportunities. However, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is integrated into every industry to accelerate an environment of collaboration, communication, and problem-solving.

● Using information the right way: With digitalisation seeping in, students have access to a plethora of information. However, it is very important to train them on how to use the information the right way. The huge amount of data that children are exposed to today needs to be managed, which they need to learn. We, as tutors, need to ask critical questions to students to encourage them to think deeper about how to effectively use information.

● Helping them to instigate the right inclination: It is important for students to develop an appropriate mindset, especially at their growing age. A successful career is a result of developing a just mindset. Love for learning will help children to gather knowledge and adapt skills for a bright future ahead. Developing the appropriate mindset is not something students can learn, rather it is a continuous process that needs to be practised to understand right and wrong.

● Character development: This aspect is rarely talked about but is of utmost importance when it comes to holistically upgrade a student. A student can convert into a successful leader in the future if he is empathetic towards others. The journey towards empathy can start from the school level with the introduction of inclusive education, where specially-abled students seek education with regular students. This would not only help students to grow into successful individuals in the future but also grow into empathetic leaders, who would shape others’ lives.

Blending initiatives will increase the efficacy

The initiative to develop children should also begin at home just like education. Parents should also take specific measures to assist the institutions in shaping up the leaders of tomorrow. Parents can involve their wards in taking up responsibilities, as a starter. This will help them to develop collaborative skills along with building values. They should start the journey at a young age and focus on developing a schedule to keep their children in a routine and discipline them. This will train them to not only focus on their goals and work harder to achieve them in the long run.