Life Skills Training will be a means for youth development

Author: Sumi Akhter, YES YOUTH

Life skills are the skills that we need to deal effectively with the challenges in our everyday life, whether at school, at work or in our social and personal life. It was a big question for me what the importance of life skill training for young people would be. I hope, that you may have that same question like me. Young people, especially young women in Cox’s Bazar, are always busy with their household activities or education and to get married with an unknown person according to the choice of our parents or guardians and to pass the whole life with that person. 

We have no specific choice and we do not have a plan on what we want to do, how we can develop ourselves, in which direction we want to go. Girls are often considered to be a financial burden to their families. For those reasons girls and women face many obstacles regarding their development and they are suffering a lot. 

They are victims of violence, oppression and discrimination and as a result they fall behind in our society.
So for making the life wonderful we need to have a plan besides continuing our education and for an effective planning life skills training could be a perfect means. I feel that there is no alternative of it. 

Life skills training is a helpful approach by which we can build our life nicely and develop our life through realizing our potentiality and strengths. It also gives us direction for developing our dreams. This is very important for all male and female youth. Before participating in the life skills training I did not know how to make a plan, how we can split a big plan into smaller steps to be taken and how all detailed plans can become successful. However, life skills training helped me to understand it. This training built up my confidence, my presentation skills, my self control and my self dignity. In spite of enrolling with an educational program, I felt that I am hopeless and a burden to my family and that I will never be able to express my courage. But now I am confident enough to express myself and I believe that I can do as many things as I wish. The YES Center Cox’s Bazar provided us with a life skills training which helped me to develop so many aspects of my personality like:

1. Respect for my work 

2. Self confidence 

3. Responsiveness towards my duties 

4. Capacity to solve problems 

5. Development of leadership sills and conflict management 

6. Knowledge of creativity 

7. Experiences and skills 

8. to be industrious and to avoid laziness 

9. to be free from fear, shyness and from inferiority  

10.and to proceed based on my plan!

As Chief guest in the inaugural session of the life skills training, the Deputy Director of the Youth Development Department of Cox’s Bazar said “Every youth should participate in the life skills training”. And I also fully agreed with his comment. Let us change our life style and participate in life skills training for building our self confidence!