Commemorative Statement on World Youth Skills Day by Hon.Abdul Salam Adams, Member for New Edubiase Constituency
Source: parliament_of_ghana
Date: 2021-07-15

COMMEMORATIVE STATEMENT ON WORLD YOUTH SKILLS DAY BY HON. ABDUL SALAM ADAMS, MEMBER FOR NEW EDUBIASE CONSTITUENCY Mr. Speaker, on July 15, every year, the world celebrates World Youth Skills Day to highlight the opportunities and challenges that young pecple face in employment. The day also allows us to reflect on the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work, and entrepreneurship. Since its inception in 2014, the World Youth Skills Day has provided a unique opportunity for dialogue between young people, technical and vocational education, and training (TVET) institutions, firms, employers' and workers' organizations, policymakers, and development partners. Mr. Speaker, this year's World Youth Skills Day under the theme 'Skills for a Resilient Youth' will occur in a challenging environment, with the COVID-19 pandemic still disrupting TVET institutions. Youth skills development will face a range of unfamiliar problems emerging from a crisis where training has been disrupted in an unprecedented manner on a virtually universal scale. Mr. Speaker, young people aged 15-24 are particularly exposed to the socio- economic consequences of these disruptions. One-third of the world's 1.8 billion young people are currently not employed, educated, or trained. Of the one billion more that will enter the job market in the next decade, only 40 percent are expected to get job offers that currently exist. Thus, the global economy will need to create 600 million jobs in the next ten years to keep pace with projected youth employment rates. Mr. Speaker, the youth make up about 36 percent of Ghana’s population, with about 12 percent youth unemployment rate according to a World Bank report. In 2016 it was projected that 300000 new jobs would have to be created each year to absorb the increasing number of unemployed young people in the country. Mr. Speaker, TVET has a vital role to play in fostering the resilience of young people in Ghana. Specifically, vocational, and technical education is a vehicle that can provide practical education in order to make graduates employable. It can also equip graduates to set themselves in business and become employers in the future. The challenge, however, is that the availability of TVET institutions to provide quality skills training is lacking from the supply side. At the same time, from the demand side, many young people do not find TVET attractive due to the negative stigma attached to it, especially in Ghana. This situation has affected the enrolment of students into the TVET programmes in Ghana and many African countries. In Ghana, for instance, the current admission into National Vocational Training Institute stands around 4 000 annually while enrollment is about 11 000. Mr. Speaker, with proper packaging, we can significantly improve enrollment into the TVET sector. M. Speaker, it is refreshing to note that the conversion of our Polytechnics into Technical Universities was a shot in the arms of the TVET sector as it has enhanced the image of TVET in the country. Mr. Speaker 85 percent of the stakeholders in the TVET sector are from the informal sector, Thus, the role of the informal sector in providing technical skills training should not be underestimated. The government must, therefore, take the necessary steps to regulate the sector to ensure standardization in the training delivery. Mr. Speaker, when young men and women are empowered with skills, they need for working life, they thrive. They can also support themselves, their families, and their communities. Mr. Speaker, it is clear that youth unemployment is an urgent and complex challenge affecting our society and the economy. As you indicated the other day, it is a national security threat as there is a clear link between unemployment and crime. To address these critical issues: o government must prioritize TVET as an instrument to produce the first and middle level of technicians to be the bedrock of industry and promote entreprencurship for employment generation. * we need sensitise people about the importance of TVET as it can go a long way to remove the negative stigma people have about TVET. ¢ the quality of TVET must be improved to make it attractive to young people. e we must get the industry involved in TVET and influence curricula, instruction and upgrading of facilities. o the government must facilitate the implementation of the National Apprenticeship Policy, which is supported by the British Council and seeks to regulate the informal sector. Mr. Speaker, with a weak transition from basic to secondary school education due to significantly increased primary enrolment and completion rates against limited space at the secondary level in the country, TVET provides the option for many young people with basic education to acquire a hand on employable skills to facilitate the acquisition of job in the labour market. Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Speaker.