World Youth Skills Day 2019 celebrated by Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) and Vignana Bharati Institute Of Technology (VBIT)

On the occasion of World Youth Skills Day 2019, an event was organized at Vignana Bharati Institute Of Technology (VBIT) in collaboration with Telangana Academy of Skill and Knowledge (TASK) to create awareness about the importance of skill development among engineering students.

The students, who were just back from the vacation, enthusiastically participated in the sessions addressed by Dr. G. Amarendra Rao, Principal, VBIT; Mr. Shrikant Sinha, CEO, TASK; Dr. Sailaja, Officer on Special Duty, TASK, Dr. Nandita Sethi, MD-The Entrepreneur Zone (TEZ); Prof. Venkataramana, Vice Chairman, Telangana State Council for higher education (TSCHE); Dr Madhuri Dubey, Founder , National Skills Network (NSN); and Mr. Avanish Mundhra, CEO, Cantilever. Shri Goutham Rao, Chairman, VBIT was also present at the event.

The event focused on conveying the significance of the day and why United Nations had designated it as World Youth Skills Day. The speakers unanimously reiterated the fact that students need to take responsibility of skilling themselves to prepare for future workplaces that demand employability skills for 21^st century jobs. This will help in reducing unemployment and underemployment and facilitate job creation through entrepreneurship.

The principal of VBIT, Dr. G. Amarendra Rao welcomed the guests and conveyed the significance of this occasion. Dr. Sailaja highlighted the importance of skill development and how it can help in shaping the career of the students. She laid the foundation for the other speakers to put forth their views on skill development. Dr. Nandita Sethi, MD, The Entrepreneur Zone (TEZ) spoke about acquiring the right mindset for entrepreneurship and asked the student to change their fixed mindset of getting placed in jobs. She advised them to look for the possibilities of entrepreneurship. She also said entrepreneurship will help in creating more jobs in the future.

The chairperson of Telangana State Council for Higher Education, Prof Venkataraman placed the dire need for hands-on learning experience along with a formal degree for future jobs.  He said that the improvement in certain skills like technical, human and conceptual skills is important. He suggested the colleges to promote research and innovation to boost the student’s morale.

On this occasion, Sri Srikant Sinha, CEO, TASK said that the students should be more creative to achieve a good result in the long run. The students should be able to create things that are frugal, affordable and accessible. He pointed out the loophole in our education system and said our education system doesn’t allow students to be creative.  He described the 21st-century skills in detail for a better understanding of the gathering. He said the knowledge that can be applied only that knowledge can be called skills.

Mr. Avanish Mundhra, interacted with the students and encouraged them to think out of the box. He gave the different puzzles and said how it can help the students to think differently. He gave tips to the students on how to write a perfect resume and how to prepare for the interviews which they will be facing in the future.

Dr. Madhuri Dubey, Founder NSN, presented the current picture of jobs what saw glaring skills and aspirations mismatch. She exhorted the students to take up continuous skills development and learning. She described the importance of continuous skill learning and asked the students to set skill goals for themselves to have a better future. On this occasion, Mr Shrikant Sinha launched the Employability Skills page, Glossary and YouTube videos from NSN as this would help the students to get a clearer idea about skills needed to get the right job and build a career.

The vice principal of VBIT thanked the speakers and event organizers for making the day memorable.   As a token of appreciation, all the speakers were given plants as a symbol of growth in every aspect, especially in skill development.