By Ranjan K Baruah
The current pandemic has hit the job sector directly around the world and more in developing nations like India. Recent global data are alarming and challenging for young people as well as elders or people working with young people. Young people aged 15-24 have been even more severely affected by the COVID-19 crisis than adults. Globally, youth employment fell by 8.7 per cent in 2020, compared with 3.7 per cent for adults. Young women have been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic as compared to young men. We have to plan for the future with the help of skill development.
Youths are over-represented in the hardest-hit sectors of the economy and the ILO estimates that even young people who still have jobs have seen their working hours cut by nearly 25 per cent. Eradication of poverty means people must be engaged in income generating activities so that individuals can manage themselves and also manage others in their family. We are aware that low skills perpetuate poverty and inequality. When it is done rightly then skills development can reduce un- and underemployment, increase productivity, and improve standards of living.
The global community has realized the importance of skill development for getting decent jobs and employment. In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly declared 15th July as World Youth Skills Day (WYSD), to celebrate the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship. This shows the importance of skill development and it is time to explore and develop our skills for a sustainable future.
When we talk of skill development then we have to understand what it means. A skill is the capability to do something, in fact ability to do something effectively.
We develop skills through experiences in life and work. We may learn skills by seeing others or reading from books but it is important to explore and make them our strengths if we want to be employed easily in any profession. Let us understand the skills which are important and needed. The list may be endless but we shall discuss a few skills in this edition. Skills can be simple, such as making a bed, or more complex such as playing a musical instrument. In the workplace you’ll use a combination of technical and personal skills.
Though the list is big but few types of skills include Literary Skills, Language Skills, Vocational Skills, Sports Skills, Cultural Skills, Life Skills and Employability Skills.
We are aware that people who can read and write are literate. Literacy skills are all the skills needed for reading and writing. Language skills include ability to read and write or communicate in different languages or dialects. Knowing different languages is always helpful for any profession. Vocational skills are related to different vocations like being a technician. There are many different training sessions conducted for the vocational skill training by different training institutes in collaboration with government and other agencies. Sports skills are ability to play and do well in any sports and similarly cultural skills include different performance. The important soft skill includes life skills and other employability skills which are must apart from having academic qualification to get placement or get a decent job. We have to understand differences between soft skills and hard skills or technical skills as all are important to be successful in life. We shall publish about different skill training provided by the government and other agencies for young people.
(The author is a career mentor and skill trainer and can be reached at 8473943734 or [email protected] for any queries)