Skills Builder Global

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Tirathbai Kalachand School

Context

Our school Tirathbai Kalachand School, established in 1978 by the honourable patron and founder Late Shri Thakurdas Ji C. Pagarani is a reputed English-medium co-educational private school run by T. Choithram Foundation. It is located at 25, Tatya Sarvate Marg, Bhanwarkua Road, Indore in India. Affiliated with the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE), the school offers a well-rounded education from Nursery to Grade XII. The institution is committed to fostering academic excellence, values-based education, and the development of essential life skills. Students range from approximately 3 to 18 years old, with the senior secondary students (Grades XI and XII) aged between 15 and 18. The learners come from diverse cultural and social backgrounds, enriching the school’s inclusive and multicultural environment. Our school's vision is to create learning experiences that foster intellectual curiosity, confidence and compassion in individuals and nurture them into balanced, resilient and responsible citizens who celebrate diversity. Our school’s mission is to create a joyful, friendly atmosphere in a stimulating environment where learning is a pleasurable activity and the flame of positivism is kindled to bring about an integrated individual who has a strong belief in himself. Our school Tirathbai Kalachand School has taken several forward-thinking initiatives to embed core skill development into the curriculum. Integration of the Skills Builder Programme: Teachers across subjects have started incorporating activities that promote eight essential skills: Listening, Speaking, Problem Solving, Creativity, Staying Positive, Aiming High, Leadership, and Teamwork. Skill-Based Internal Assessments: Students undertake projects aligned with these skills—such as PPTs, digital posters, reports, and role-plays—thus enabling practical application of what they learn. Focus on 21st-Century Learning: Lessons and assessments are designed to develop collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity. UNSDG and International Linkages: The school has initiated lesson plans that integrate United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and global perspectives to develop internationally-minded learners. Empowering Teachers: Faculty members are being trained in student-centered pedagogies and digital integration to support skill-building more effectively. Digital and Experiential Tools: The use of multimedia tools, virtual collaborations, and student-led presentations has increased, enriching learning outcomes and confidence.

Overall impact

The implementation of the Skills Builder Partnership Programme has made a significant impact on the teaching and learning environment at Tirathbai Kalachand School, aligning seamlessly with our vision of nurturing confident, compassionate, and responsible individuals who can celebrate diversity. Our engagement with the programme was both structured and sustained. Teachers participated in regular online and in-person training sessions, which helped them understand the framework of the eight essential skills.Teachers collaboratively designed classroom activities, internal assessments, and project work to promote skill development in alignment with academic goals. The programme was gradually extended across different grade levels, starting with our Nursery to Grade XII, to ensure deeper integration with the curriculum. The training and ongoing support from the Skills Builder team helped our educators in several key areas. Clarity in Skill Mapping: Teachers learned to identify which of the eight essential skills—Listening, Speaking, Problem Solving, Creativity, Staying Positive, Aiming High, Leadership, and Teamwork—could be naturally embedded into their lesson plans and assessments. Confident Facilitation: Teachers felt empowered and better prepared to deliver skill-focused sessions with measurable outcomes. Shift in Pedagogy: Classroom interactions moved from teacher-led lectures to student-centered learning, encouraging inquiry, collaboration, and reflection. Capacity Building: The entire team developed a common language around skills and used consistent terminology, making expectations clear for students. The Skills Builder programme has had a transformative effect on both teachers and learners at Tirathbai Kalachand School. It has not only enhanced academic outcomes but also built a foundation for real-world success by fostering transferable skills. The school now views skill development not as an add-on but as an integral part of the learning process—ensuring that our students are well-prepared to navigate future academic, personal, and professional challenges with confidence

Keep it simple

Using the support of the Accelerator programme we held 2 teacher training sessions with our Education Associate. This ensured that teachers built their understanding of the Universal Framework and essential skills teaching. We created visual displays in some spaces to help students to recognise the essential skills they were building. Some teachers also used verbal praise, stickers and certificates to reward learners who demonstrated effective essential skills growth. Student engagement increased as learners became more aware of the importance of life skills and began to reflect on their own strengths and areas for growth during classroom discussions and self-assessments.

Start early, keep going

We encouraged all our teachers to build essential skills with their learners from our Nursery Class to Grade XII. Some teachers have planned essential skills lessons using resources from the Hub in various grades in the school.

Measure it

Our educators used the teacher training session to learn how to assess student groups using the HUB measuring platform. We also used our second teacher training session to develop offline assessment strategies that would allow teachers to track progress using an offline assessment sheet and encourage students to self reflect on their progress. Skill-Linked Internal Assessments: Each project or written assignment required students to demonstrate one or more of the core skills. For example, in English, students were asked to create presentations or role plays that reflected both subject understanding and soft skills like creativity and teamwork. Skill Progression Charts: Teachers used visual trackers and rubrics to monitor student progress in each skill, providing targeted feedback for improvement.

Focus tightly

We decided to focus on different essential skills across different areas of the school. Skill Nursery to grade 1 focused on Listening, Grades II -V on Speaking, Grades VI -VIII on Problem Solving and Grades IX - XII on Aiming High. Some teachers selected a time to teach the strategies for their chosen skill steps within a week. Some teachers of Grade VI utilised their time to teach all the eight skills to their learners.They used Hub lessons and offline materials in the Global Offline resources folder to determine lesson content. Integration in Lesson Planning: Skills Builder objectives were included in lesson plans, ensuring deliberate and visible planning for skill-building alongside academic goals.

Keep practising

This is an area that we feel will take longer to implement but we used our second teacher training session to show our teachers the different ways in which they could approach this. As a result some teachers have started to use student reflection and questioning in subject lessons. We encouraged Cross-Curricular Integration, asking teachers from different departments to collaborate to design interdisciplinary projects, giving learners opportunities to apply skills in varied contexts.

Bring it to life

At Tirathbai Kalachand School, we ensured that skill development extended beyond the classroom by linking the eight essential skills to real-world situations, school-wide initiatives, and community engagement activities. This helped learners understand the relevance and application of these skills in everyday life. We encouraged students to practise the Skills Builder competencies across all domains of school life through morning assemblies, House and Club activities, electing the members of Student Council and encouraging peer learnings where senior students mentored juniors in academics or extracurricular activities. Various celebrations of important days and festivals and organization of various events throughout the session also provide various avenues of learning to our learners. We actively involved parents and the broader community to strengthen skill relevance by inviting parents to conduct Orientation Sessions for our learners. We also invite the eminent speakers and learned professionals to share their success stories and life’s experiences with our learners. To reinforce learning we also encourage our learners to complete reflection logs or feedback forms about where and how they used specific skills in and outside the classroom.By embedding Principle 6: Bring it to Life, our school created authentic, meaningful opportunities for students to practise and adopt the essential life skills. This approach ensured that skill-building was not limited to theory but became a lifelong learning experience for all the learners enabling them to emerge as socially responsible individuals.

What's next

At Tirathbai Kalachand School, the successful integration of essential skills into teaching and learning has set a strong foundation. Building on this momentum, our next steps will be to focus on deepening impact, expanding participation, and ensuring sustainability across the school community. To ensure this our teachers will incorporate explicit skill objectives in their lesson plans and assessments, making skill development intentional and visible across all grades. Regular professional development workshops will be conducted to deepen teachers’ understanding of all the eight essential skills. Student portfolios will be introduced to collect evidence of skill application across academic and co-curricular areas. Various orientation sessions for parents will be planned to help them understand the importance of essential skills and support their development at home. The alumni network will be engaged to mentor students, share career stories, and demonstrate the relevance of these skills in real life.

India