Vinod Chandrashekhar Dixit
Swami Vivekananda said “My hope of the future lies in the youths of character, intelligent, renouncing all for the service of others, and obedient – good to themselves and the country at large”. The U.N. has designated the World Youth Skills Day on July 15 to create awareness on the importance of technical, vocational education, training and the development of other skills relevant to local and global economies to reduce unemployment and underemployment among the youth across the globe.
With over 54 per cent of the Indian population aged below 25, it is not surprising the government is looking at them as potential resources to scale new economic heights. According to the draft National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, the country presently faces two challenges – a severe paucity of highly-trained, quality labour and large sections of the educated workforce that possess little job skills. Youths are the backbone of the nation; they are the main pillar of our growing society, hence they need to be nurtured. World Youth Skills Day is celebrated around the world to spread the awareness and importance of skills needed for the employment of the youth.
There is no doubt that India needs to equip its youth with greater work skills. At present, the country churns out a mostly semi-literate workforce without the requisite marketable skills in a globalised world. Skill and talent are the results of education and training, and India must lay greater stress on its educational infrastructure before it can attain higher levels of growth. The skill set of India’s youth have to necessarily match that of the world’s best.
The several key announcements in education, skills and youth development shall have structural and long term impact on quality of education, availability of qualified manpower and preparing the next generation for the hyper age of automation and AI. The quality of higher education is sought to be improved through greater autonomy for colleges based on quality metrics and accreditation.
Youths are everything, they have the capability to do anything out of the box, the only thing they need is the direction or a mentor for the future of our country. Only graduation certificate is not enough.
It is estimated that young adults are more likely to be unemployed than adults in our society and are continuously exposed to the lower quality of jobs. Similarly, it goes for the women also who are underemployed, doing a job on a part-time basis or are underpaid. The issue of unemployment is a major concern for industry and also for the country. It is one of the major issues in the world. Even the developed countries have to deal with this problem. It not only affects the individual but also affects the growth of the country.
It is estimated that by 2020, the average age of the Indian citizen will be 29 and set to become the world’s youngest country. The skill India’s main motive is to provide the youths with training and guidance in all the occupation as per their choice like construction, Jewellery, Agriculture, Tourism, etc. Train, build confidence and make them aware of the new opportunities from the school level itself.
It is a well established fact that the youngsters of today are the most likely to be unemployed than adults in the labour market. Apart from a lower quality of jobs and market inequalities, there is a major insecurity of transitioning from the school mode to the work force. The rising unemployment makes a negative impact on people’s mind. It discourages qualified people to find the job. Hence they lose the hopes of having a job and earning. This type of unemployment is called as voluntary unemployment.
Certainly there is also a need to add technology to the mix: to seize the opportunities in technology as an education and training delivery mechanism, as well as to improve and scale the uptake among youth of digital skills that will position them for success in new types of jobs and in emerging sectors.
(The author is a freelancer and can be reached at [email protected])
