By Abdulhafiz Mohammad
Skills Acquisition among teens and youths nowadays has been prioritized and become more lucrative along with conventional education. It is mostly advised that individuals acquired a skill that is duly sought after either; technical or soft skills. Skills acquisition can be defined as the art of learning a skill or handy work in order to earn a living.
There are three stages of skills acquisition: Cognitive, Associative, and Autonomous. In the cognitive stage, the learner tries to learn skills verbally or visually which entails him watching, listening, and understanding the mentor. In the associative stage, the learner starts practising a lot thus improving his performance on the job.
In the autonomous stage, the learner is responsible for his training. In this stage, the learner either out of curiosity, or creative thinking, thinks outside the box, learns how to manage complexity and self-direction.
Skills acquisition or vocational training is a very important topic, especially in today’s world in which a white-collar job isn‘t always available for everyone. Nowadays, teens learn skills even while at school so that in the future they can make a living out of what they learned without necessarily waiting for elusive government job offers.
Before now, the educational system in Nigeria seems to focus more attention on helping students to get good academic qualifications. But in recent times, we are beginning to witness the introduction of skills and vocational training in our schools either as a subject or as a club activity. The truth of the matter is that vocational training needs to be added to the curriculum as this will equip the students with practical skills needed to survive in the future.
Vocational training skills include acquiring skills like; baking, photography, painting, hair styling, and carpentry among others. Vocational training is the backbone for economic development in the country, the government and the educational institutions should take it seriously as no nation can compete in the global marketplace with poorly educated and unskilled population.
In addition, the rate of unemployment among youths has increased drastically in the last decade and if something is not done about it, it will only continue to get worse in the coming years as most young people in college lack the needed skills and competence that would help them function in today‘s emerging society.
The scope of vocational training is multi-faced ranging from occupations requiring a high degree of skills and scientific knowledge. Jobs requiring minimal training are not generally included in the programme because the necessary skills can be learned on the job.
Vocational training education differs from traditional conventional education because it focuses on building specific skills for specific trades by engaging individuals in learning practical skills for different occupational activities. I would kindly urge the government to invest more in vocational training in our education system.
The importance of skills acquisition outside the four walls of the classroom can‘t be overemphasized in the present world due to the heightened need for technical skills which are sometimes not taught in schools. Teens at an early age should start striving to learn handwork skills that might help them in the future, a white or blue-collar job doesn‘t guarantee steady income flow, several people in the country reached great heights with the skills they learned when they were teenagers and if the educational system can also add this skills acquisition to the education system curriculum, then it would help rapidly in the economic growth of not only the country but the entire continent.