A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SOCIO-EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE AND CITIZENSHIP SKILLS AMONG HIGHER SECONDARY STAGE SCHOOL STUDENTS

The present study is a comparative investigation of socio-emotional competence and citizenship skills among secondary stage school students. Adolescence is a significant developmental phase marked by emotional growth and increasing civic awareness. Schools play a vital role in fostering both socio-emotional abilities and citizenship competencies necessary for responsible participation in society. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design and employed simple random sampling to select 1325 secondary stage students across different boards of study (State, CBSE, ISC), academic streams (Science, Commerce, Arts), and gender. Socio-emotional competence was conceptualized through an integrated framework focusing on emotional awareness, regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and responsible decision-making, while citizenship skills were examined through cognitive, participatory, and value-based dimensions. The findings provide comparative insights into the development of these competencies and their variation across demographic categories.