Skills for youth in 21st century

THE EDITOR: Tomorrow is World Youth Skills Day. Is TT equipping our youth with the knowledge, skills, competencies, values and attitudes they need to function effectively and efficiently in the 21st century?

While studying for my Master’s degree in education in London, we discussed the issue of the “sabre-tooth curriculum,” referring to educators delivering a curriculum that did not meet the needs of today’s students. The sabre-tooth tiger is extinct, yet the curriculum referred to was “teaching” students how to catch these tigers.

Many of our educators don’t have the technological skills and competencies that our youth of today possess. My three-year-old great-nephew in London could manoeuvre his iPad to find exactly which story or rhyme he wants to access.

Years ago I had to critique two presentations written in Spanish, and was experiencing difficulties. My seven-year-old great-niece laughed saying, “Aunty Leela, haven’t you heard of Google translate?”

Although the translation is not always correct, this tool helped me enormously. Today there are many modern platforms with translation tools.

We live in an interconnected, technologically advanced world and many of us are experiencing difficulty keeping up with technology. Many parents are unable to assist their children with their school work.

I agree with the late Prof John Spence who rightly said that where there are gaps in parenting, the school must strive to fill these. This is not to say that parents should abrogate their responsibilities, but there may be areas where schools must “take up the slack.”

How effective, for example, is ICT training in our schools? There are still a few places in TT where internet access is limited. Can we level the playing field?

My friend’s daughter asked me to comment on her CV before she submits it to various companies, as she is seeking summer employment in London. She says she developed many of her amazing skills and competencies, eg her digital literacy proficiency, outside of the school setting. Our youth need assistance in recording their skills and capacities in ways that will make their applications for jobs “stand out.”

It was Gandhi who said: “The future depends on what you do today.” What are we doing today to ensure that our education system is equipping our youth to meet the challenges of today’s fast-paced world? Textbooks and “blackboards” are still the “staple diet” in many of our schools. Our education system continues to fail too many of our children, and yet we keep teaching the “sabre-tooth curriculum.”

Even as we celebrate the achievements of the top 200 students who sat the SEA, I posit that what they had to endure was not the best strategy for organising a placement exercise in TT. And then we have the trauma being experienced by the 2,595 plus students who scored less than 30 per cent – 13.6 per cent of the 19,185 pupils who sat the exam this year.

Let’s not play the blame game but put our heads together to address the many factors that lead to underachievement, as well as the obstacles that stand in the way of our young people’s creativity, innovation and lifelong learning.

I urge the Chamber of Industry and Commerce to work with our Government to build capacity, ensuring that training programmes to prepare youth for life/world of work include skills that are relevant to the labour market/future jobs. Let’s play our part to promote integral human development in TT, that is, the development of each person and of each dimension of the person.

Each youth is a gift from God. He/she comes into this world with great potential. Our responsibility as adults is to invest in youth and to create conditions for them to realise their potential and to flourish.

LEELA RAMDEEN

chair, CCSJ

director, CREDI