Last week I conducted soft skills training on building self-confidence for students of two  reputed colleges in Chennai. One is leading women’s arts college and another top engineering college. Both are diverse set of students in terms of their subject, attitude, attentive span, energy, Intelligent Quotient and Emotional Quotient. Overall training program was highly energetic and enthusiastic because of young minds.
During the training program, an activity was conducted asking the participants to write one positive quality about all their classmates. Students enthusiastically wrote about others.  Second part of activity is where they have to write their own positive qualities, talents and  unique qualities. Entire crowd was looking at each other’s face, many were not able to write more than one or two points and some were clueless. This came as a shock to me to realize that majority of the students are not able to pen down their own strengths.

Whose mistake? It is a very gloomy picture that majority of the students and young adults are not aware of their unique qualities and potential. It is real serious issue and something must be  done about it.   . It is Parents, Teachers, and society’s   responsibility to nurture our future generation by making them realize their real strengths and potential. Do we really encourage them   and provide enough opportunities and/or tools to facilitate them to realize their qualities and abilities or do we simply    force them to do what we like.   Isn’t it our duty to make them look ‘within’ and help them find their true desires, their passions, their natural skills and talents to really succeed in their life.

I would like to remember our beloved Abdul Kalam sir’s quotes “All of us do not have equal talent. But all of us have equal opportunity to develop our talents” . Let me conclude by tweaking the above statement “All our children   may not have equal talent. But all of us can give better opportunity for them to realize their talents