Group discussions at school and college

Sir,
This refers to the news  item’ Group Discussion organized in  JU’ (DE Feb3,2016). It is heartening to read that the Department of Students Welfare, University of Jammu,organised a  Group Discussion event for the University students.Though the group discussions donot form a part of academic curriculum at the school and college level,Group Discussions are given a significant importance in the process of screening for admission to various professional courses at PG level such as MBA and recruitment to various jobs,especially in the Private sector in order to assess the analysing and organizational skills of the candidates,besides leadership qualities.
Group discussions  also help in assessing the communication and motivational skills of the candidates and their ability to accomodate others’ ideas and work with them as a team.Not only this,Group discussions about topics prescribed in school curriculum also help the students to enhance their knowledge on the one hand and develop social and argumentative skills on the other.They also help the students to clear their doubts about difficult and hard topics and thus fare well in the exams.But unfortunately, our students have little exposure to group discussions and most of the candidates fail to get selected for such courses/ jobs for which group discussions are held because of their poor spoken and interpersonal skills.Thus,it is imperative that sufficient opportunities to the students at upper school and college level are provided to participate in group discussions and hone their personal and social skills so that they may be able to face the challanges of life in an effective manner. Students must also be encouraged to study in groups and hold discussions in groups in order to enhance their  knowledge, clarify their doubts and foster social bonds with their peers.
Various skills learnt during school and college level group discussions will help the candidates in their later years to improve their personality and communication skills and brighten their chances to get admission in prestigious colleges/ universities as also jobs in the government and private sector and thus better their career prospects.
Yours etc…..
Ashok Sharma,
Udhampur