Life Skills Education as a Catalyst for Social Inclusion: Insights from Tribal Adolescents in Odisha, India

• In Event: Social exclusion, inclusion and justice: Policies, practices and interventions in South Asia

Proposal

Background
Cycles of underdevelopment, socio-economic insecurity, and discrimination have disproportionately affected tribal communities in India, echoing global evidence that marginalized populations often face multiple, intersecting disadvantages (UNESCO, 2021; World Bank, 2018). Odisha, a state in eastern India where nearly 22.9% of the state's 41.9 million residents (2011 Census) belong to Scheduled Tribes (STs), concentrated in remote, forested regions, illustrates these challenges vividly. Many tribal communities, owing to persistent poverty and geographic isolation, face limited access to quality education, livelihood opportunities, and essential services (Government of India, 2020). Such constraints risk deepening existing social and economic divides and perpetuating intergenerational disadvantage (UNDP, 2022). While some districts are predominantly tribal, experiencing slower socio-economic progress, others are largely non-tribal and continue to grapple with the pressures of rapid socio-economic change. This duality provides a critical context to examine how life skills education can serve as a bridge—reducing structural inequities, strengthening the resilience and capacities of tribal adolescents, and fostering pathways toward inclusive development, sustainable peace, and social cohesion (UNICEF, 2019; Davies, 2014).

To address this gap, the government of Odisha introduced an aspirational curriculum in 2023–24 in collaboration with development partners, including Magic Bus India Foundation for Kridangan - sports integrated life skills education across 8,416 government and government-aided schools, reaching over one million adolescents across both tribal and non-tribal districts in the state. Grounded in Amartya Sen’s “capabilities approach” (Sen, 1999), the program positions life skills as critical enablers—bridges that empower adolescents to convert available opportunities, such as schooling, into tangible freedoms and improved life outcomes. By doing so, the program not only strengthens individual agency but also contributes to reducing structural inequities and fostering inclusive development across diverse communities.

Data and Methods
The intervention was implemented through the Kridangan Club framework, which employed experiential pedagogy to foster competencies in problem-solving, communication, collaboration, and emotional regulation. A mixed-methods evaluation design was adopted to assess program outcomes. Quantitative outcomes were measured using Situational Judgment Tests (SJTs), complemented by qualitative insights to capture contextual variations. The study sample included 4,044 students drawn from 108 schools across six districts, encompassing both tribal and non-tribal settings. Within the sample, intervention participants were students enrolled in Grades 9 and 10, while comparison groups were constituted from non-intervention peers in Grade 8.

Results
Findings demonstrated that life skills education generated significant improvements in cognitive, social, and emotional domains, alongside measurable increases in adolescents’ voice and agency. The impact was particularly pronounced among tribal adolescents, who entered the program at a substantial disadvantage due to long-standing socio-economic hardship, geographic isolation, and limited educational opportunities.

Within the comparison group, structural disparities persisted: only 49 percent of tribal adolescents reported high agency compared to 56 percent of non-tribal peers, and just 33 percent achieved advanced levels of overall life skills compared to 39 percent among non-tribal students. The life skills education program shifted these patterns markedly. Among tribal adolescents in intervention schools, the share reporting high agency rose by 17 percentage points (from 49% to 66%), outpacing the 7-point increase among non-tribal adolescents (from 56% to 63%). Similarly, 72 percent of tribal adolescents reached advanced levels in overall life skills, surpassing the 69 percent of non-tribal peers and reflecting sharper gains of 39 versus 31 percentage points.

Domain-specific analysis further highlights this dynamic. In cognitive skills, gains were stronger among non-tribal adolescents (+40 points vs. +26), yet tribal adolescents demonstrated consistent progress despite lower resource availability. In social skills, tribal adolescents recorded slightly larger improvements (+30 points vs. +26), achieving near parity at around 58 percent. The most striking gains occurred in emotional skills: tribal adolescents improved by 29 points to reach 85 percent at advanced levels, surpassing non-tribal peers who gained 20 points to reach 83 percent.

Conclusion
The Panchasakha Shiksha Setu program illustrated that the transformative potential of sports-based life skills education in contexts shaped by structural inequities and exclusion. Evidence from Odisha indicates that although tribal adolescents have long faced entrenched disadvantages in education and agency, targeted interventions can significantly alter this trajectory. The program fostered substantial improvements in social and emotional competencies, alongside enhanced voice and agency, enabling tribal adolescents not only to close longstanding gaps with their non-tribal peers but, in some domains, to surpass them. These outcomes underscore the critical role of life skills as enabling capabilities that allow marginalized youth to navigate adversity, strengthen resilience, and translate educational opportunities into expanded freedoms and improved life outcomes.

Beyond individual outcomes, the program also highlights the broader societal role of education in mitigating divisions and promoting social cohesion. A broader conception of peace entails not only the absence of conflict but also the cultivation of innate skills such as empathy, respect for diversity, kindness, tolerance, and responsible communication. By equipping young people with these capacities, life skills education plays a critical role in shaping attitudes and mindsets conducive to peaceful coexistence.
By reducing disparities between tribal and non-tribal communities, the intervention contributes to breaking cycles of intergenerational disadvantage, advancing inclusive development, and reinforcing the foundations of sustainable peace. Odisha’s experience thus provides a practical case for critically examining how education can move beyond its instrumental role in human capital formation to serve as a vehicle for peacebuilding, fostering inclusive identities and strengthening collective resilience across diverse communities.

References
• Davies, L. (2014). Unsafe Gods: Security, Secularism and Schooling. London: IOE Press.
• Government of India. (2020). Annual Report 2019–20: Ministry of Tribal Affairs. New Delhi: Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
• Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• UNESCO. (2021). Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education. Paris: UNESCO.
• UNICEF. (2019). Global Framework on Transferable Skills. New York: UNICEF.
• UNDP. (2022). Human Development Report 2022: Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives. New York: UNDP.
• World Bank. (2018). Indigenous Peoples and Poverty Reduction: Emerging Challenges. Washington DC: World Bank.

Author

• Santosh Kumar Sharma, Magic Bus India Foundation