PRESS RELEASE: Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), UNICEF and YuWaah join hands to equip young people with 21st Century Skills
CBSE, UNICEF and YuWaah sign a Statement of Intent to re-affirm the commitment for making young people future-ready with a special focus on vulnerable and marginalised populations
NEW DELHI, 21st June, 2022: 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."
About CBSE
The Central Board of Secondary Education is the leading National Education Board of the country for public and private schools. Recognised worldwide, CBSE is an autonomous body that works under the aegis of the Ministry of Education. Its main objectives are:
· To define appropriate approaches of academic activities to provide stress free, child centered and holistic education to all children without compromising on quality.
· To analyze and monitor the quality of academic activities by collecting the feedback from different stakeholders.
· To develop norms for implementation of various academic activities including quality issues; to control and coordinate the implementation of various academic and training programmes of the Board; to organize academic activities and to supervise other agencies involved in the process
About YuWaah
YuWaah is a multi-stakeholder platform that aims to prepare young people to transition from education and learning to productive work and active citizenship. It was formed by UNICEF, together with public and private sector partners, UN Agencies, civil society organisations, foundations and young people as the Generation Unlimited (GenU) partnership in India. By 2030, in India YuWaah aims to:
· Build pathways to aspirational socio-economic opportunities for 100 million young people
· Facilitate 200 million young people to gain relevant skills for productive lives and the future of work
· Partner with 300 million young people as change-makers and create spaces for developing their leadership.
Launched in 2019 by the Honourable Minister for Women and Children’s Development, Ms. Smriti Irani, YuWaah also received strong words of encouragement from the Honourable Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi in the form of a letter of support. Follow YuWaah on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. For more information, visit www.yuwaah.org
About UNICEF
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. UNICEF is working in more than 190 countries and territories, for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit www.unicef.org.
For UNICEF India, visit us on http://unicef.in/ and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
UNICEF India relies on the support and donations from businesses and individuals to sustain and expand health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education and child protection programmes for all girls and boys in India. Support us today to help every child survive and thrive! www.unicef.in/donate.
Media Contact:
Gurpratap Singh | +91 9654329211 | gursingh@unicef.org