EFFICACY OF LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION ON MANAGEMENT OF CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS AMONG ADOLESCENCE GIRLS IN SELECTED SCHOOL AT KANYA KUMARI DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU, INDIA

Background: Adolescent years mark the transition from childhood to adulthood. This phase, of almost a decade, is very critical for the physical, intellectual and emotional growth in the life of any individual. This period entails a lot of learning, unlearning and relearning for a successful future life. While adolescent are forming new social bonds, comprehending new viewpoints, and are willing to emulate and relate new learning to real-life challenges, they deal better when equipped with education on skill-set required to meet the challenges of day today life. Life skills competencies are enablers that include psychosocial competencies and interpersonal skills which assist people make knowledgeable selections, analyse the situations critically and creatively, talk effectively, construct lifelong cherished relationships, learn empathy, and lead their lives in a healthy and meaningful manner. Objective of the study: The objectives of the study were to assess the efficacy of critical thinking skills among adolescent girls and to find the association between critical thinking skills and selected demographic variables (age, religion, siblings, education status and occupation of the father and mother) of the adolescent girls. Materials and Methods: Experimental pretest-posttest control group time series design was adopted for the study. The samples of the study were 418 girls between 13 to 17 years studying in 8th to 11th standards of selected schools. Result: According to the statistical report life skill education improves critical thinking skills in the experimental group. Significant association between number of siblings and critical thinking skills was also observed.