“This small picture reminds us that learning has no age”.
If we go by a layman meaning of learning in Hindi, it’s nothing but – TO SEEKH (To Learn). We learn and we learn almost every single day, every month, every year…. In short, we learn all our lives. As babies we learn to eat, to walk, to crawl and as we develop into children and adult and our bodies become more functional, we learn to inordinate range of skills.
Previous research and studies around learning always focus on early years of learning through childhood and adolescence, it was later recognized that learning is not only confined to childhood rather it is a lifelong process which starts at birth and continues till death. It works as a process where individuals use their own experience to build relationships and deal with new situations.
And therefore it would be wrong to say that learning is learning with “education at school” only, where we learn the most important aspects of our life but in reality, learning is not confined to school only, its dimensions are far beyond that. There are many other opportunities where we can expand our knowledge horizons and develop skills required throughout life.
Lifelong learning can enhance understanding of the world around us and provide us with better opportunities and help us to improve our lives. Lifelong learners are self motivated to learn and develop them because they want to do it.
Learning is a continuous and life long process, where in knowledge can be acquired and skill set can be developed anywhere and everywhere. Lifelong learning is all about learning throughout our lives for 2 reasons: 1. Learning for personal Development 2. Learning for Professional Development
Although these two reasons are interdependent upon each other as personal development can improve our employment opportunities and professional development enable our personal growth.
1: Learning for personal Development: It is a way for people to assess their skills and qualities, consider their aims in life and set goals in order to realize and maximize their potential. Learning for personal development can be for any reason like to pursue your hobby, to acquire new skills by taking up a new degree, or to gain insight about the habits and culture of your next destination. Learning for your own self can help you prevent the challenges of life like stress, boredom, fatigue and thus enable a more fulfilling life at any age.
2. Learning for Professional Development: we are working in such kind of competitive environment that if we don’t learn, we will be out of the race. Learning for professional development will not only help us to get good employment but can pay off with new opportunities which might not otherwise have arisen.
While you are employed take better advantage of trainings, coaching or mentoring opportunities and work on continuous professional development as you will likely become better at what you do and more indispensable to your current or future employer .
Hence, it is very important to expand our minds and strive for lifelong learning which proves to be a critical factor for success in our lives.
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning staysyoung.” ― Henry Ford So Keep living, learning and stay young!!About the Author
MS. AVNIT KAUR
ASSISTANT Professor
She is MBA (HR) and MA (Economics). She has 8 years of academic experience..Read More
