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Jammu’s schools are being nudged to teach more than textbooks. At a one-day Capacity Building Programme in Jammu on 2 July 2026, a set of new life-skills teaching resources was launched — jointly developed by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), J&K, the School Education Department and the Bharti Airtel Foundation — with the aim of equipping teachers to shape students as people, not just examinees.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who attended the event, said the “ultimate purpose of education is transformation,” and argued that schools should function as “laboratories of life-building” rather than institutions focused solely on exam performance. Education, he said, should go beyond academic achievement to nurture practical learning, critical thinking and emotional development.
A life-skills toolkit for the classroom
At the heart of the programme was the release of instructional resources and life-skills books designed to help teachers address the real pressures young people face — substance abuse, mental stress, peer pressure, digital risks and rapidly changing lifestyles. The initiative is explicitly aligned with the government’s “Drug-Free Jammu and Kashmir” campaign, which sees teachers as frontline allies in helping students navigate difficult choices.
The event also felicitated meritorious students and the winners of the Tobacco-Free Educational Institution (TOFEI) initiative — a recognition of schools working to keep their campuses free of tobacco and other harms.
Why young people should care
For students, this is a quiet but meaningful shift. Much of what determines whether a young person thrives — resilience under stress, the ability to resist peer pressure, safe habits online, knowing when to ask for help — sits outside the exam syllabus. Building those skills into the school day, and training teachers to deliver them, could make classrooms a genuine support system rather than just a place to prepare for tests.
The programme drew senior officials, including Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Co-Chairman of the Bharti Airtel Foundation, Nuriya Ansari, its CEO, Ram Niwas Sharma, Commissioner Secretary of the School Education Department, Ramesh Kumar, Divisional Commissioner Jammu, and Dr. Naseem Javaid Chowdhary, Director School Education Jammu, alongside teachers and students. Their presence signalled that this is intended as a system-wide effort, not a one-off workshop — and if the resources reach classrooms as planned, Jammu’s students may find school becoming a little more about life, and a little less about marks alone.
Sources: Greater Kashmir · Daily Excelsior
