What SKILLS Education for Future Jobs?

EDUCATIONAL:

Young people were left unemployed by the pandemic in far greater numbers than adults, with the effects being felt worse in lower income countries.

Young women have tended to be more likely to become unemployed as a result of COVID-19 disruption than young men.

The equivalent of 255 million full-time jobs were lost around the world due to the pandemic, according to data from the International Labour Organization.

Around the world in 2020, youth employment dropped by 8.7%. For adults the fall in employment was less severe, registering at 3.7%. This difference illustrates the extent of the pandemic’s economic consequences for younger people.

Unless action is taken to tackle the way the pandemic has affected young people’s employment opportunities, many of them could continue to struggle for decades, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO).

“The majority of youth lack essential skills to make them employable, with most of them graduating without having practical skills” President Samia Suluhu Hassan urgue during mark of 58 years of Zanzibar Revolutionary at Pemba.

One main issue encountered during COVID-19 pandemic is the many different understandings of term skills education and what it is intended to promote.

Interpretations range from COVID-19 pandemic to better farming practices. When talking about skills and livelihood education, therefore worked with the following broad definition:

• Skills education is mostly used as part of effects of COVID-19 pandemic.
• Skills education is intended to promote skills enabling and empowering young people to make decisions in challenging situations like getting job or to be self-employed.
• Skills education is intended to participatory, responsive and raising the assumption underlying much of skills education is that at-risk populations are somehow lacking in certain skills (for example, assertiveness) which, if taught and learned, they would be able to apply to different situations especially during pandemic like COVID-19.

UNICEF has defined the list of skills to be promoted as the following:

• Problem solving
• Critical thinking
• Communication skills
• Decision making
• Creative thinking
• Interpersonal relationship skills
• Negotiation skills
• Self-awareness building skills
• Empathy
• Coping with stress and emotions

UNICEF, UNFPA, UNESCO and WHO advocate for the use of skills education in COVID-19 pandemic, with UNICEF defined skills-based education as essentially being an approach based on behavioral change or behavioral development that address three key areas: knowledge, attitude and skills.

“Can COVID-19 pandemic lead to behavioral change as a result of skills education disputed?” seems to be the question to which no one really knows the answer.

Skills education can be acquired within educational settings but due to COVID-19 pandemic several online educational programmes are available to learn different skills.

Skills like coding, marketing, sales, finance, projects, research that demonstrate applied knowledge rather than merely theoretical knowledge make a student desirable to employers.

Value of work experience:

Working on a range of skills and building depth by seeking practical work experience, is much more valuable than mere certificates in a mutable job market.

There is an added advantage. Being able to do things also creates confidence, and helps with mental health, and self-esteem.

The importance of well ness and confidence cannot be stated enough.

Prepare for digital world:

It is not just exams, grades, certificate or degrees that will create skills for future job candidates.

However, implementing it is a challenge for educators in a technological age. Just like the industrial revolution impacted life the world over, the technological age is fully upon us today.

Even for students who may not be interested in technology, the digital world will impact everything they do.

Social media, mobile technology, coding and online media impact culture, politics, industry in ways we cannot always predict and understand.

Young people are bombarded bombarded with stimuli from many sources, and they need to learn how to filter what is true and what is simply fantasy or irrelevant.

This can be frightening.

Education institutions will need to stimulate small digital communities where prototypes can be built and tested in a safe way.