In the last three decades or so we have made rapid progress on the economic and scientific front.  While our economic capital has increased our social wealth has ebbed to its lowest level. The change in our life style, and all the glamour and glitter have perhaps distorted our perceptions. Unfortunately, it is the younger generation that has taken a direct hit. School shoot outs and burn outs are no more a phenomenon of the west. It is with us – here and now. Teenagers are unable to cope with the pressures resulting in suicides, aggression, depression, drug abuse and school violence.

Parents and principals of schools are struggling more with these problems than with conventional studies of arts and science. In a very short period, the situation is as grim as a crisis. To counter this we need to build a resilient, responsive and aware youth. And the best way is to start from the schools. Emotional Intelligence very precisely covers all the aspects that need to be addressed to achieve this. We need to push the Emotional Quotient of the young India up, which is more important than IQ to become a successful human being. 
“EI is the ability of the human race which encompasses all the basic principles, moral values, and strengths of human character and will power, that go into making of the human temperament and personality.”

Length and breadth of Emotional Intelligence (EI)
EI matrix has four basic logical domains

*Self awareness
*Self Management
*Social awareness
*Relationship Management

In its totality it covers self assessment, self confidence, self control, adaptability, initiative, achievement drive, empathy, delayed gratification, commitment, will power, service orientation, conflict management and much more.
If relevant portions out of the entire EI spectrum can be culled out and taught along with other life handling skills and crisis management, during the teens, it can make a huge difference to the emotional vacuum that has dawned upon us. We would not only be making better citizens for tomorrow but will also let our children cope with the present day crisis, effectively. 

Research also strongly suggests that schools are the best crucibles where teaching emotional competence can be most effective. These are those windows of opportunities where neurological changes are best influenced by outside interventions. Bringing emotional literacy into schools by focusing a little on the relevant portions of human abilities, values and life handling skills can come out as a wholesome solution of our current problems and would be more critical to our future than ever before.

Some basic tips

Simple approach: Putting it simply, Emotional Intelligence is the “superset” of value education and is all encompassing. It therefore has a much larger scope and builds character at the very core of a child. It also prepares him for the future as well as to handle day to day problems. At schools the curriculum should be as simple as possible and should avoid any difficult jargon which can be jarring for teachers as well as students. In fact it must blend with the normal curriculum.

Self awareness: Every child must be able to do self assessment because that is the first step to self awareness. It should be a simple form of SWOT – strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. (The last two being applicable only to the business environment).

Self Management: Once a person or a child is aware of his own strengths and weaknesses across the domains, he or she can manage himself much better. It helps in adaptability, self control as well as all other personal functions.

Social awareness: It is important to feel how others feel. To put yourself in other’s shoes is the need of the hour. Empathy is ‘I feel how you feel’. Where as sympathy is ‘I understand how you feel’. Social awareness makes you understand that subtle but hugely important difference between the two.

Building bonds and relationships: Getting along with people is perhaps the most important human trait.  Schools are the best place to develop this where thousands of students come in contact with each other.

Beyond IQ

During the first half of the twentieth century the human race progressed through inventions and discoveries. It was the invention of the aircraft, discovery of penicillin and generation of electricity which gave us a higher standard of living. The pillars for these scientific leap frogging were Physics, Chemistry, Math’s and Biology. Human competence therefore got linked directly to these pillars and science and technology were the most preferred subjects.

To go a step beyond, all the tests of efficiency and proficiency hovered around these skills – and are unfortunately going the same way even today. This is the IQ scenario. Human traits like drive, determination, creativity, passion and compassion, to name a few, which are critical for survival and success are not even remotely connected to how good you are at Math in particular and IQ in general.  And yet we are paying little attention to these as far as our teaching and learning is concerned.

It is about time we looked beyond the horizon which is today limited to the Intelligence Quotient. We need to focus and develop emotional competencies in our youth. 

We, who are in control of things, need to pay attention to this and start a mission in this direction in all earnestness – let us not forget if we go wrong, we are accountable to the coming generations.