Kohima, July 14 (MExN): On the occasion of World Youth Skills Day, the Governor of Nagaland, PB Acharya called on the youth of Nagaland to empower themselves through skills development so as to strengthen their capacity and help address the many challenges faced by the society, including unemployment, poverty, and development.
Pointing out that Nagaland has five universities and 300 thousand graduates among a population of 20 lakhs only, he said, “As such we are the educationally empowered State in the country.”
In his message, Acharya said that United Nations declared July 15 as World Youth Skills Day to highlight at a global level, the importance of youth skills development with a goal to achieve better socio-economic conditions for today’s youth and to address the challenges of unemployment and under employment.
According to the United Nations, he stated, young people were almost three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and continuously exposed to lower quality of jobs, greater labour market inequalities, and longer and more insecure school-to-work transitions.
He therefore encouraged the youth to embrace work culture and be positive towards entrepreneurship. “Educational institutions should introduce skill based courses in their curriculum so that the school-to-work transitions is minimised,” the Governor asserted, adding that there are various government schemes and programmes to help students stand on their feet once their studies are completed. Institutions should make the students know and understand the welfare schemes and programmes offered by the government, he added.
Acharya further encouraged that universities, students’ organisations, NGOs, all organised groups like Self Help Groups (SHGs), ex-servicemen, Scouts & Guides, Red Cross Society can take up skill training with the cooperation from Government Skill Development Department and train any youth and empower the society.
Stating that successful skills programmes link young people with opportunities to gain experience and jobs, the Governor called on the government, academic institutions and youth organizations to scale up action in area of skill development. He stated there is no better investment than helping a young person to develop his or her abilities.
According to the Governor, giving skill training to youth is not the end goal, but to help them get necessary loan from ‘Mudra Bank’ and motivate them to be entrepreneurs is the ultimate goal.
