JEDDAH — With the vision that their students need to be extraordinary in every aspect of academic life, New Al Wurood International School, Jeddah and Al Kozhama International School, Dammam, organized interactive sessions for the students of grades 9-12 on the need of acquiring soft skills and socio-educational challenge students face.

The session was conducted by Syed Sultan Ahmed, the MD, LXL ideas. He is the founder of Edumedia — a pioneer in the use of school cinema designed to introduce and reaffirm life-skills and values to children.

Sultan was very clear on his vision. He said, “In an intense desire to teach and guide the students, a school cannot quickly pass over one essential step of knowing and accepting students for who they are and how they perceive and make sense of the world around them. Without this step the efforts to educate and guide students are not only futile, but also engendering rebellion.”

Peter Ronald, principal in charge, also spoke about the relevance of the session. He said, “Preparation for college and career success requires much more than exposure to a robust curriculum. The voices of workforce leaders describe skills -gap of a different nature- a gap in competencies rather than content.”

Sultan emphasized the need of students to acquire soft skills to be successful today — the skills that apply across a variety of jobs and life situations — traits such as integrity, communication, courtesy, responsibility, professionalism, flexibility, and teamwork. But he also made students aware that in fact, the skills students need in the 21st century are not new. They have been components of human progress throughout history.

While addressing the student queries on social media he reflected “there are certainly positive elements in easing communication and expanding horizons. But teenagers who are still developing and learning to adapt to the world are likely to become a victim of social muting in the real time world. Student turnout to attend the workshop was quite admirable. Overall, all attendees immensely benefitted from the sessions and commended the initiative, also suggested increasing the frequency of such activities.

Later in the afternoon Sultan’s a training session on teacher engagement in the design and development of effective skills solutions brought together more than 125 teachers of New Al Wurood and Al Khozama engaging in meaningful dialogues and discussions. The aim was to share their experiences, to learn from one another and discuss good practice partnership models that enhance skills investment against the backdrop of the global race to develop and deploy the talent needed in a skill-driven world. — SG