When Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Board examination paper pattern for 10th standard for 2009-10 has been reviewed, with the ratio of marks for descriptive type questions and multiple choice questions, parents and teachers of those students studying in govt. schools across the state was anxious, let alone students on how they will cope with the new pattern. However for Gururaj kulkarni studying in GJC govt. school in peenya, Bangalore, there was no such fear because Gururaj has already undergone training in Akshaya Life skills programme in his school which was initiated by Akshaya Patra with the support of public instruction department and Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagare Palike ( BBMP) in which he learned how to face the examinations more confidently, When the SSLC results were out, Gururaj made his school proud by scoring 92.48% marks.

The program equips students with skills,values and attitudes to face the challenges and demands of everyday life. Besides the programme is also planned on the basis of WHO recommendations of 10 life skills. He attribute the success to the Akshaya Life skill programme “I am thankful for the school authorities to consider Akshaya Life skills programme, the learning’s from the programme has been so crucial, that it made all the difference to me as well as my results” Gururaj who now enrolled in a science stream wanted to pursue Mechanical engineering at IIT.

It is not just Gururaj alone who has benefited from life skills programme, Misba, from Maharani Girl’s school from Mysore showers praise and is elated with getting 548 marks. “Akshaya life skills have changed my life” remarked Misba.

This year over 160 students of class X in Akshaya Life skills (ALS ) schools have scored more than 80 percent in the SSLC exams. In the last academic year, only four students of ALS schools had achieved distinction, whereas this year there has been a sweeping increase of 34 students from ALS schools who scored distinction.

By observing the statistical data of past SSLC passed-out children, comparatively this year overall Board results has decreased to 6.66% from 2009 to 2010. Whereas, the pass-out of SSLC exam, Akshaya Life Skills school children in the year 2008 – 09 to 2009 – 10 has increased to 1.46%.

40.000 students across the state of Karnataka have been benefitted from the Akshaya Life skills programme.The program has also extended its support to a few orphanage and special homes in the state.

Kanakeshwari a teacher from Mysore govt. school who has been a strong advocate for such life skills programme in government schools feels, while academic learning is important, the motivational parameters play a very crucial role in bringing-out the best amongst these socially less privileged children. She says “It could be considered as the study skills programme conducted is one of the factors which motivated the children to upgrade their results”

The Importance of learning life skills in schools is often over looked by the government says sultan, MD of Edu media who conducts the Akshaya Life skills. Why it becomes crucial is because, life skills-based education is being adopted as a means to empower young people in challenging situations. Sultan further adds Life skills should and need to be taught in a child’s life for him or her to become a well-formed educated individual. He further states that “children learn the academics in school and the life skill helps them to apply what they have learned to their everyday life”.

Recognizing the critical importance of these skills, 164 nations committed to Education For all have included life skills as an essential learning outcome for all adolescents and young people. Today, life skills education is offered as part of the formal school curriculum in at least 70 developing countries.

The life skill model is based on WHO recommendations of 10 Life skills. Sessions are facilitated through interactive games, real life examples, role play, theatre, debate and discussions. Several pertinent issues like drugs, alcoholism. The program also helps children understand their inner potentials claims the felicitators.

Though the government spent crores of rupees in the field of education in India, on the ground this has not had the desired impact among students alleges sultan.

With the success of Akshaya Life skills having a visible impact, Shoba Karandlaje, former minister and present MLA from Yeshwanthapura constituency in Bangalore has come forward to implement the Akshaya Life skills programme in all the government schools in her constituency. She is also personally funding the same. She says the students studying in government schools have the wrong notion of feeling inferior to someone studying in a private school. “There are times when even teachers have a similar opinion about themselves.” “Programmes such as these reinforce confidence among students and help them to remain focused. It also helps in their holistic development and makes them responsible citizens”

As the UN states, more than 1 billion people in the world are hungry and malnourished, with roughly 146 million children in developing countries being underweight. Of these, 1 in every 3 malnourished children, in the world lives in India. They could find their way out of this crippling cycle of poverty through education but chances are that by the time they grow up, they will have completed only 4.5 years of schooling. That’s hardly enough to attain the most basic literacy skills, let alone find a respectable, well paying job. Even an optimist would call this a half empty glass: one section of the world lives on in luxury while another scrapes by with barely enough food to stay healthy. What can any one person do anyway? The problem is too complex.

Monica Sadhu, one of Akshaya Patra’s most enthusiastic volunteers begs to differ. After hearing about the Foundation at a music concert she was inspired to volunteer. She got herself introduced, visited the schools, learned more about our work and then did something very few of us bother to do. She tried to make a difference. Monica was only in 8th Standard when she started to volunteer for Akshaya Patra. “The children inspired me. They didn’t have a single ounce of shyness in them,” she says. Many people would be inspired too. They may even talk about it with their friends. Then they would go about their life and by the end of the day, forget to be inspired .

Monica, however, remembered, and resolved to do something. “ She began very simply, one step at a time, “In the initial stages, I focused primarily on spreading awareness…I told everyone I knew about the organization.” By the end of her 9th however, she realized she wanted to do more, “I had to do much, much more to make a significant difference to AP [Akshaya Patra] and the children it feeds everyday…I understood the need to spread awareness.” So she asked her friends to involve their schools and increased her efforts in the community. When she visited schools, she realized many of the children needed basic education in health care, so with the help of her friend’s mother, a doctor, she has planned a series of lessons for students. Starting this September 2010, she will start giving talks to these children on good hygiene.

Now in 11th Standard, Monica has spent close to 2 years volunteering for the organization and is as enthusiastic as ever. From facing skeptics who doubted anything could be done to help children in India, to finding ways of making difference in any way she could, Monica has worked enthusiastically to stand up and do something when others would merely stand by and criticize. Her volunteering experience has given her a new perspective of the world we live in, “Though I was aware of the problems poor families face, I began to see them in real life. I understood that education is the only means by which India can be freed from the terrible cycles of poverty and hunger.”

So even though the glass seems half empty and skeptics will always tch tch and say nothing can be done, change is still possible. Here is an example of the just how much one person can do if they really put their mind to it.