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The United Nations General Assembly has declared 15 July as ‘ World Youth Skills Day' to commemorate the importance of hiring young people for employment, decent work, and entrepreneurial opportunities
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A clarion call is ringing for the industries that have to grow sustainably in a short amount of time and also be productive. Proliferated growth of industries is reliant on productivity related to skill development, natural resources, and the economy. The youth population was 1.2 billion in 2019, and it is expected to grow to 1.4 billion in 2065, the United Nations (UN) states. The youth possess the skills to uplift the sector and make a valuable contribution.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres says that youth are the engineers of change and they must be fully in charge of their future decisions. As per the United Nations Youth 2030, he has urged to act in the direction of youth skills development as it is a priority at the summit and beyond that too.
To celebrate the skills for the future, the UN had set up a virtual event on 7-8 July - ‘YOUth Matters: Celebrating skills for the youth. It brought out the voices of the stakeholders in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in order to understand the attitudes of the youth when it is a matter of skills which are essential for their future.
In line with this, the UN has organised another virtual event on 15 July 2022: Transforming Youth Skills for the Future, which will bring together the youth, UN agencies, government, private sector, civil society representatives, and government, which will analyse the ongoing catastrophe situation of youth across the globe and will ponder upon the issue of how quickly young people can adapt to the changes and ever-changing world.
The UN raises the concern that most of the young are staying in school instead of working in the labour market at an early stage. This is indeed good news but the alarming situation is that more than 200 million young people have no jobs and are trapped in the poverty circle.
Manav Subodh- Managing Director of 1M1B ( One Million for One Billion) Foundation says "In the next 5-10 years the world will shift to skill and attitudes-based hiring. Degree or university-based hiring will be a thing of the past. Problem-solving, collaboration, organisational, communication, and creativity are skills that are most required and are the hardest to find in today's youth. Add on top of it missing attitudes like citizenship, sustainability, integrity, and workplace ethics, which make hiring and retention extremely difficult.
He further added, "We need to redesign our education system and the skilling programmes to support the development of these fundamental and core traits required in the future workforce. Hard skills or domain-specific skills can be layered on top of these. We also need to develop sustainability as a core part of the curriculum and not a specialised subject. Because we don’t just need climate specialists in the future, we need engineers who are dedicated to creating technology that works on green power, lawyers who are well-versed in environmental law and business leaders who are ethical and efficiently utilise resources. "
The need to celebrate this day
The United Nations General Assembly has declared 15 July as ‘ World Youth Skills Day' to commemorate the importance of hiring young people for employment, decent work, and entrepreneurial opportunities. Since then, the day has provided opportunities for interaction among young people, TVET institutions, businesses, employers and workers organisations, policymakers, and development partners. A significant change has been observed as the world is heading towards a sustainable model of development.
This day emphasises eradicating gender inequality. It is the sole responsibility of TVETs to meet the demands of social, economic, and environmental aspects by training youth and adults to gain the proper knowledge and skills they require for employment, decent work, and entrepreneurship.
In the UN agenda for 2030, education and training are the core things to be achieved. It envisages the Incheon Declaration: Education 2030 to be fully aligned with the Sustainable Development Goal 4, which ensures comprehensive and equitable quality education and ensures that everyone has access to life-long learning.
The central idea is to provide them with the skills required for self-employment. It focuses on improving the responsiveness to the dynamic skills that the company demands, which will help to increase productivity and wage levels. It lowers the barriers in the dynamic world of work through work-based learning. It will also make sure that the skills which are gained are acknowledged and certified.
Harsh Kundra, CTO, LEAD, comments, "Moving towards a digital world, it is necessary to give students a chance to explore science and technology like never before. Skilling at an early age will help students to be future-ready. Skill is the crucial key that helps the country grow and create opportunities."