Gateway believes that developing soft skills and life competencies should start at school level

The need for developing soft skills and life competencies has been identified as a priority the world over. Many Universities and Corporate entities have undertaken programmes to develop their human resources to keep abreast with the demands of a fast changing world.

Gateway College has taken the initiative to embark on an intensive programme aimed at reinforcing their students with skills and attributes that are considered essential in the corpo- rate world. The school’s management wishes to see their students go out to the world as confident ladies and gentlemen who will be capable of carrying themselves with dignity, grace and poise at job interviews, workplaces and social gatherings.

Accordingly, a series of workshops will be conducted by experts in their respective fields. The topics that have been identified after much thought and discussion include Personal Hygiene, Grooming, Social grace, Sexual awareness, Dealing with emotions and coping with stress and Self awareness and Character formation. The programme co-ordinated by Mrs. Nir mali Wi c k r a m a s i n g h e , Consultant, Gateway College will include Mrs. Nayana Karunaratne of Image Consultants and representat ives from the Family Planning Association and Mel Madura along with their team of trainers.

As a pre-cursor to this initiative, a two day intensive pro- fessional development workshop was held for all teachers of the Gateway schools in order to highlight the importance of soft skills and life competencies and the importance of their role as stake holders of this new aspect of the curriculum. The workshop, which was part of the Continuous Professional Development carried out by Gateway College, was held at the Jetwing Hotels in Negombo– Blu, Beach and Sea with the participation of 432 teachers. The Staff Workshop which is now an annual feature was held for the 18th consecutive year.

The workshop also included a segment where the teachers of different schools were given the opportunity to display their hidden talents at a variety entertainment. The potential of teachers came out in song, dance, music and theatre which had the audience in raptures of laughter. The participants also enjoyed the dinner dance themed ‘Seventies’ that was put together in true Negombo style.