New Delhi, Delhi, India:  Room to Read’s Girls Education Program has been working towards building agency and aspiration of adolescent girls for over two decades now. The organization’s work, especially in the educationally backward blocks have brought forth inspiring examples of girls who have empowered themselves through life skills.

To recognize the relevance of life skills in enhancing equality and social justice as well as individual empowerment, Room to Read India, today, hosted a National Seminar on ‘Life Skills Education: Empowerment and Equality’, which was attended by various stakeholders, including government officials, NGOs, advocacy experts, donors and supporters of girls’ empowerment.

Highlighting the importance of how life skills have assumed greater significance over the decades, Room to Read India’s Country Director, Mr. Sourav Banerjee said, “These set of skills have assumed greater significance over decades moving out from the domain of health to the larger domain of studied life decisions. We now see that it not only has the potential of helping youth develop positive behaviour which will help them steer away from situations of risk but also towards a fuller life, to realise who they are and what they want to be. Room to Read therefore continues to invest in creating an environment where adolescent girls can empower themselves.”

The event also featured the launch of Room to Read India’s annual flagship Girls Education Program campaign - Har Kadam Beti Ke Sang. Launching the campaign, Poornima Garg, Deputy Country Director, Room to Read India said “This year’s campaign is themed on ‘Strengthening Schools as Empowering Spaces’ and will be rolled out across 9 Indian states. We believe that schools should be empowering spaces for future women leaders. They should be spaces where girls are seen and heard. With this spirit and commitment, Room to Read India is launching this year’s campaign today through which we aim to establish the importance of creating spaces where girls can lead and represent themselves.”

The event also provided an exclusive platform for experts to reflect on topics pertinent to adolescent girls and other key stakeholders in context of life skills education. There were two panel discussions organized on ‘Framing Life Skills Education for Equality’ and ‘Strengthening and Supporting Life Skills Educators’ respectively. These discussions were enriched by meaningful inputs from senior government officials and some of the prominent names working on girls’ education and empowerment.