Education is the biggest weapon for the student but only education will lead them nowhere. Education has been a basic need for students from schooling to high school degree to bachelors and masters but still, they lack something, that something is lack of skills. These days education system is only focused on theoretical knowledge rather than practical. From the very beginning of the schooling days, students are provided with course books and they are told to pass the exam anyhow by hook or by crook, students are told to rote all their notes to get good grades which leads to lack of skills in today’s youth which increases unemployment ratio.
Today’s youth lack soft skills and hard skills both in the context of our country Nepal. At first, talking about the hard skills part, hard skills are mostly related to work when applying for a job, hard skills depends on job positions example knowing ms excel, ms word or if youths are applying as a technician they require technical knowledge and ideas to work. Youth only end up with degrees and certificates but they don’t know how to start working and earn money. One of the students who passed plus two had completely no idea how to create a CV of his own to apply in the job and same as him most of them don’t know how to create a CV, alike hard skills youth lack soft skills too though soft skills depend on personality type and their upbringing.
Here are some of the soft skills youth lack:
Communication skills: Imagine having every knowledge and experience but you lack communication skills it’s like having a lot of money in your cupboard and you don’t have your cupboard’s key. Most of the youth lack communication skills where they are unable to sell themselves in the job market. Being able to communicate adequately will help in built up connections, share our ideas and experiences and yes, these communication skills can be developed if we practice speaking in front of some members in the workplace or make presentation and speeches in a classroom or start asking questions and sharing our ideas to colleagues will help to boost our skill.
Problem Solving Skills: These skills are must needed skill in youth in today’s context. Youth lack problem solving and critical thinking techniques and they face anxiety, stress, and depression as they are unable to face issues in their life. Most schools and colleges don’t teach these skills so youths have to learn these skills by own by facing every difficulty and solving it. Most hiring companies want critical thinkers, self-motivated, and applicants having problem-solving skills and the ability to work under pressure. As the future is uncertain youth should always have a backup plan if they face any problems in the future and should be able to work under pressure.
Absence of patience: Most important skills youth’s lack is patience, as a child parents have always provided, what children want in front of them, they are served with foods on their plate whereas they grow up they want things to happen in a count like 3,2,1 which is not possible at all. Most young people start their ventures but quit too soon because they lack patience, where they must have worked hard every day to reach that success phase also, most youths tend to quit jobs too quickly because they lack patience. As long as they lack patience majority of youth don’t want to start from scratch and want to be on the top from the very beginning. As long as, a lot of youths are depressed due to the absence of patience.
Absence of professionalism and work ethics: I heard somewhere that in one of the job interviews taken by one of the renowned hotels in Nepal hiring person found out the interviewee wearing jeans and an oversized hoodie which is a complete no-no especially in the hospitality field. Yes, there is a saying “never judge a book by its cover” but indeed appearance is something, someone will notice first. Alike appearance, tone of voice, integrity, punctuality, and attitude matters which some youths may lack.
Self-awareness, Self-Realization, and Self-development: One should be able to know what he/she wants to do and how he/she can achieve it in life, being aware of who they are and what they want to do in real life is a big task here. Youths must be aware of his/her strength and weaknesses to work accordingly. No wonder many youths completes his/her master’s degree and still can’t figure out what he/she wants to do in his/her life, after having self-knowledge it is important to realize what he/she has done and where they can improve themselves is another big task to know about in today’s world.
Leadership and decision making: Leading and decision making is a managerial task and it goes hand in hand, as youth lead they have to take decisions as well, having leadership skills will boost their communication skills and decision-making skills as well. Once they become a good follower and learn from it they can become a good leader in the future and lead our organizations and country as well.
“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future” as we should help youth to gain skills for themselves by providing different extra classes in schools and colleges especially by giving knowledge in communication, self-knowledge, emotional intelligence, financial intelligence, problem-solving skills, and professional skills. Alike, classes in schools there must be more training & mentoring institutes where youth can learn better skills and uplift their potentiality in whichever field they want. Moreover coming to the end only certificates of a college degree with no skills in youth is not sufficient to work in real life they require some skills to do better in every aspect of their life.