Obaseki drums support for skills-oriented education to improve global youth wellbeing  

… lists gains of Technical, Vocational education, Edo Innovation Hub

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has urged world leaders to pay more attention to skills-based education to raise a global army of highly skilled youth, who can proffer technology-based solutions to the myriad of developmental challenges across the world.

Obaseki who made the case on the occasion of the World Youth Skills Day, celebrated in July each year, decried the disheartening and low Youth Wellbeing Index (YWI) data in developing countries.

According to the governor, “the disparity between the wellbeing figures of youth in developed countries and those in developing countries is heartbreaking. The quickest way to bridge the gap is for leaders in developing countries to redesign their educational curriculum and pay greater attention to technical and vocational education as well as Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

“The Edo State government is committed to empowering Edo youth with in-demand technology-based skills because our administration believes that our talented youth can compete on the global technology space with their peers from other parts of the world, in designing tech-based solutions to contemporary problems.”

He explained that “it is this conviction that informed our huge investment in the Edo Innovation Hub and the ongoing reconstruction of the Benin Science and Technical College (BSTC), to serve as grooming grounds and hubs for tech-based solution providers.”

He further said that, “the goal of his administration is to empower and equip the youth with the capacity to create jobs and grow their enterprises to any height they desire and contribute significantly to global economic growth and development.”

Obaseki assured that the state government would sustain the training programmes to capture millions of youth in the state in the empowerment net and hand them skills that will take them away from the labour market.

According to the United Nations, “Young people are almost three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and continuously exposed to lower quality of jobs, greater labor market inequalities, and longer and more insecure school-to-work transitions.”

The global body noted that “women are more likely to be underemployed and under-paid, and to undertake part-time jobs or work under temporary contracts.”

The UN maintained that education and training are key determinants of success in the labor market, but lamented that “existing systems are failing to address the learning needs of many young people, and surveys of learning outcomes and skills show that a large number of youth have low levels of achievement in basic literacy and numeracy.”

To raise awareness on the importance of investing in youth skills development, “the United Nations General Assembly decided in resolution A/RES/69/145 to designate 15 July as World Youth Skills Day.

“Celebrating the World Youth Skills Day 2018, a discussion focusing on how innovation and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), are transforming labor markets, as well as what skills youth need to operate in future economies and to become drivers of a sustainable future, will take place July 16 at the UN Headquarters in New York,” the UN said.