Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), UNICEF, and YuWaah join hands to equip young people with 21st Century Skills
NEW DELHI : In line with National Education Policy and Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) ongoing efforts through the Handbook on 21st Century Skills and Employability Skills coursework, CBSE, UNICEF and YuWaah (Generation Unlimited in India) are collaborating towards making 21st Century Skills accessible to CBSE students. In continuation of the ongoing collaborations on life skills, CBSE, UNICEF and YuWaah will also work together on career guidance, as well as enabling access and engagement of students in volunteering opportunities.
A Statement of Intent was signed to mutually agree on the areas of collaboration and key milestones therein, for working together towards these goals.
The meeting also marked agreement on the roll-out of the Passport to Earning (P2E) initiative for CBSE students, wherein they shall be upskilled with key 21st century skills mapped to CBSE’s employability skills curriculum. Based on the pilot, the initiative will be scaled to reach all students, including scaling teacher training and capacity building to enable the same. The P2E initiative is part of a multi-stakeholder, global partnership between UNICEF, Generation Unlimited, Microsoft and Accenture, where Capgemini is a key partner in enabling the scaling of this e-learning solution in India.
Commenting on the partnership, Smt. Nidhi Chhibber, Chairperson, CBSE, said, “NEP has laid a lot of stress on moving from rote learning to skilling. It also recommends instilling skills in students, right from the school level. Passport to Earning is one of the initiatives supported by the Board towards achieving this goal. In time, we may explore integrating P2E with the Skill Hubs Initiative of the Govt. of India. We, at CBSE, welcome this initiative as it would provide our students an opportunity to learn 21st century skills, which are very relevant in current times, and which will help in shaping them into productive citizens in the future.”
Mr Yasumasa Kimura, UNICEF Representative in India, said, “CBSE is one of the most important stakeholders to deliver 21st century skills to young people at scale. We are privileged to re-affirm our commitment to young people’s bright future with this national-level partnership. We look forward to working together to empower India’s young people to thrive in school, work, and life.”
Ms. Dhuwarakha Sriram, Chief of Generation Unlimited (YuWaah), Youth Development and Partnerships at UNICEF India, said, “Young people of India want access to 21st century skills, career guidance and volunteering opportunities. This partnership will not only enable to make these aspects a part of their learning pathways but also empower them to explore and get informed about their choices for work and in life.”