Employability Skills

Textbook for Class X

 ISBN 978-93-5292-218-5

First Edition ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

February 2020 Magha 1941  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
Reprinted electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise
October 2020 Ashwina 1942 without the prior permission of the publisher.
 This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not,
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© National Council of Educational by a sticker or by any other means is incorrect and should
Research and Training, 2020 be unacceptable.

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 Foreword

The National Curriculum Framework–2005 (NCF–2005) recommends

bringing work and education into the domain of the curricular, infusing it in
all areas of learning while giving it an identity of its own at relevant stages.
It explains that work transforms knowledge into experience and generates
important personal and social values such as self-reliance, creativity and
cooperation. Through work one learns to find one’s place in the society. It is
an educational activity with an inherent potential for inclusion. Therefore,
an experience of involvement in productive work in an educational setting
will make one appreciate the worth of social life and what is valued and
appreciated in society. Work involves interaction with material or other
people (mostly both), thus creating a deeper comprehension and increased
practical knowledge of natural substances and social relationships.
Through work and education, school knowledge can be easily linked
to learners’ life outside the school. This also makes a departure from
the legacy of bookish learning and bridges the gap between the school,
home, community and the workplace. The NCF–2005 also emphasises
on Vocational Education and Training (VET) for all those children who
wish to acquire additional skills and/or seek livelihood through vocational
education after either discontinuing or completing their school education.
VET is expected to provide a ‘preferred and dignified’ choice rather than a
terminal or ‘last-resort’ option.
As a follow-up of this, NCERT has attempted to infuse work across
the subject areas and also contributed in the development of the National
Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) for the country, which was
notified on 27 December 2013. It is a quality assurance framework that
organises all qualifications according to levels of knowledge, skills and
attitude. These levels, graded from one to ten, are defined in terms of
learning outcomes, which the learner must possess regardless of whether
they are obtained through formal, non-formal or informal learning.
The NSQF sets common principles and guidelines for a nationally
recognised qualification system covering Schools, Vocational Education
and Training Institutions, Technical Education Institutions, Colleges
and Universities.
It is under this backdrop that Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central
Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE), Bhopal, a constituent of
NCERT has developed learning outcomes based modular curricula for

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 the vocational subjects from Classes IX to XII. This has been developed
under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Vocationalisation of Secondary
and Higher Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education, erstwhile
Ministry of Human Resource Development.
This textbook takes care of generic skills embedded in various job roles
in a comprehensive manner and also provides more opportunities and
scope for students to engage with these common and necessary skills,
such as communication, critical thinking and decision making in different
situations pertaining to different job roles.
I acknowledge the contribution of the development team, reviewers
and all the institutions and organisations, which have supported in the
development of this textbook.
NCERT would welcome suggestions from students, teachers and
parents, which would help us to further improve the quality of the material
in subsequent editions.

Hrushikesh Senapaty
Director
New Delhi National Council of Educational
September 2020 Research and Training

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 About the Textbook

Employability skills can be defined as those soft skills which employers

look for in a potential employee. These skills equip the employees to
carry out their role to the best of their ability and client satisfaction. For
example, the ability to explain what you mean in a clear and concise way
through written and spoken means, helps to build a better relationship
with the client or the customer. Similarly, handling stress that comes with
deadlines for finishing work and ensuring that you meet the deadlines can
be done through effective self-management training. It can also be done
by working well with other people from different disciplines, backgrounds,
and expertise to accomplish a task or goal. In today’s digital age, employers
expect that the employees should be able to make use of elementary
functions of information and communication technology to retrieve,
access, store, produce, present and exchange information in collaborative
networks via the Internet. Students need to develop entrepreneurial skills,
so that they can develop necessary knowledge and skills to start their own
business, thus becoming job creators rather than job seekers. Potential
employees need to develop green skills, which are the technical skills,
knowledge, values and attitudes needed in the workforce to develop and
support sustainable social, economic and environmental outcomes in
business, industry and the community. Thus, as a student you are expected
to acquire a range of skills so that you can meet the skill demands of the
organisation that you would work for or to set up and run your own business.
This textbook on ‘Employability Skills’ covers communication,
self-management, information and communication technology,
entrepreneurial and green skills. It has been developed as per the learning
outcome based curriculum. The employability skills are embedded in the
Qualification Packs of the different job roles in various sectors under the
National Skill Qualification Framework.
The textbook aims to provide learning experience through a blended
approach of text and video-based interactive e-learning lessons. Running
these e-learning lessons in classrooms would require a computer with
Internet connection, projector and sound system, which the school should

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 provide to the teachers and students. The teachers will guide you to actively
participate in class — asking and answering questions and following the
instructions to complete the exercises and activities.

Vinay Swarup Mehrotra

Professor and Head
Curriculum Development and Evaluation Centre
and NSQF Cell,
PSS Central Institute of Vocational Education, Bhopal

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 Acknowledgements

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

expresses its gratitude to all members of the Project Approval Board (PAB)
and officials of the Ministry of Education (MOE), Government of India, for
their cooperation in the development of this textbook. The Council would
like to thank Rajesh P. Khambayat, Joint Director, PSS Central Institute
of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE), Bhopal for providing support and
guidance in the development of this textbook.
The Council extends its gratitude to Vinay Swarup Mehrotra, Professor
and Head, Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry and
Curriculum Development and Evaluation Centre, PSSCIVE, Bhopal, for
his untiring efforts, skillful guidance and assistance in the development
and publishing of this textbook. The Council is grateful to Saroj Yadav,
Professor and Dean (Academic), NCERT, and Ranjana Arora, Professor and
Head, Department of Curriculum Studies, NCERT for their sincere efforts
in coordinating the review workshops for the finalisation of this textbook.
The Council acknowledges the contribution of the following review
committee members from PSSCIVE — Abhijit Nayak, Professor and Head,
Department of Health and Paramedical, Dipak Shudhalwar, Professor
and Head, Department of Engineering and Technology, Kuldeep Singh,
Associate Professor, Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry,
Mridula Saxena, Professor, Department of Home Science and Hospitality
Management, P. Veeraiah, Professor and Head, Department of Business
and Commerce, Pinki Khanna, Professor and Head, Department of Home
Science and Hospitality Management, Rajiv Pathak, Professor, Department
of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Saurabh Prakash, Professor,
Department of Engineering and Technology, R.K. Shukla, Professor,
Department of Business and Commerce and Vipin K. Jain, Associate
Professor and Head, Department of Humanities, Science, Education and
Research for reviewing this textbook.
The Council also acknowledges the valuable contribution of
Aakash Sethi, Chief Executive Officer, Quest Alliance, Aditi Kumar,
Project Manager, Quest Alliance, Amit Singh, Advisor, National Institute
for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development, Austin Thomas,
Executive Vice President, Wadhwani Foundation, Mekin Maheshwari, Chief
Executive Officer, Udhyam Learning Foundation, Nidhi Sahni, Curriculum

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 Manager, Wadhwani Foundation, Nikita Bengani, Senior Program
Manager, Quest Alliance, Poonam Sinha, Joint Director, National Institute
for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development, Rohit Massey,
Consultant, National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Development, Anshula Madgula, Program Manager, Udhyam Learning
Foundation, Sonal K Jain, Consultant, Wadhwani Foundation, Sunil
Dahiya, Executive Vice President, Wadhwani Foundation, and Vikrant
Chandela, Associate Director, Wadhwani Foundation for their assistance
in development of the textbook and for providing illustrations for the
textbook. Vikas Kogey, Visual Analyser and Pinki Tiwari, Graphic Designer,
PSSCIVE, Bhopal are also duly acknowledged for redrawing illustrations
for the textbook. The images other than these used in the textbook have
been sourced from the Creative Commons License.
The Council also acknowledges the copyediting and valuable
contribution of Shilpa Mohan, Assistant Editor (Contractual) Publication
Division, NCERT, in shaping this textbook.
The efforts of Pawan Kumar Barriar, DTP Operator and Sachin Tanwar,
DTP Operator (Contractual), Publication Division, NCERT, for flawless
layout design are also acknowledged.

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 Contents
Foreword iii
About the Textbook v
Unit 1 Communication Skills 1
Session 1 Methods of Communication 1
Session 2 Verbal Communication 7
Session 3 Non-verbal Communication 10
Session 4 Communication Cycle and Importance of Feedback 16
Session 5 Barriers to Effective Communication 20
Session 6 Writing Skills — Parts of Speech 24
Session 7 Writing Skills — Sentences 31
Unit 2 Self-management Skills 39
Session 1 Stress Management 40
Session 2 Self-awareness — Strength and Weakness Analysis 46
Session 3 Self-motivation 51
Session 4 Self-regulation — Goal Setting 54
Session 5 Self-regulation — Time Management 58
Unit 3 Information and Communication Technology Skills 63
Session 1 Basic Computer Operations 63
Session 2 Performing Basic File Operations 70
Session 3 Computer Care and Maintenance 74
Session 4 Computer Security and Privacy 79
Unit 4 Entrepreneurial Skills 84
Session 1 Entrepreneurship and Society 85
Session 2 Qualities and Functions of an Entrepreneur 89
Session 3 Myths about Entrepreneurship 94
Session 4 Entrepreneurship as a Career Option 99
Unit 5 Green Skills 103
Session 1 Sustainable Development 103
Session 2 Our Role in Sustainable Development 109
Answer Key 114
Glossary 117

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