Dimapur, July 14 (EMN): The governor of Nagaland, PB Acharya on the occasion of World Youth Skills Day 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.
“We have five universities and 300 thousand graduates and our population is 20 lakh only. As such we are the educationally empowered state in the country,” the governor said.
“India is proud that today with 68% of our 125 crore population being youths, India is the youngest country in the World. Youth is the backbone of a society,” Acharya stated.
The governor said that United Nations declared 15th July 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, Acharya said 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.
Institutions should introduce skill based courses
The governor said that educational institutions should introduce skill-based courses in their curriculum so that the school-to-work transitions is minimised. He also mentioned that various government schemes and programmes to help students stand on their feet once their studies were completed. He insisted that institutions should make the students know and understand the welfare schemes and programmes offered by the government.
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, Acharya suggested.
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.
Acharya maintained that ‘there was no better investment than helping a young person to develop his or her abilities.’
“Let us remember that 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 Entreprenuers is the ultimate goal. ‘Mudra bank’ with INR 12,000 crore capital, our Hon’ble Prime Minister, Modiji has opened the flood gates to our skilled youth to become entrepreneurs and job givers and not job seekers,” the governor added.
