World Youth Skills Day 2021: History, Significance and everything else you need to know

July 15 is recognised as World Youth Skills Day by the United Nations to inculcate the ability to acquire skills and make informed choices regarding one's professional choices. The main goal of this day is to equip young people around the world with essential skills for employment, work, and entrepreneurship. 

This day provides an opportunity for dialogue between the young people, firms, employers’ and workers’ organizations, policymakers, technical and vocational education and training institutions, and development partners. The platform is available to all wanting to hire and get hired. 

The inception of World Youth Skills Day

July 15 was marked as the World Youth Skills Day in 2014 by the United Nations General Assembly. This was done to achieve the Incheon Declaration: Education 2030, which is a part of Sustainable Development Goal 4 that urges to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

What is Education 2030? 

The Education 2030 mission devotes a major part of its attention to technical and vocational skills development, specifically regarding access to affordable quality Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). The United Nations, through this initiative, urges its member countries to provide technical and vocational skills to young people for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship.

This day also promotes the elimination of gender inequality. According to the UN, it is the TVET’s responsibility to address several demands of an economic, social and environmental nature by helping youth and adults develop the skills they need for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship.

World Youth Skills Day 2021 Theme

Since this year the event will take place amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations has decided to pay tribute to the resilience and creativity of youth through the pandemic and its subsequent crisis.

The event will take stock of how TVET systems have adapted to the pandemic and recession, and participants will think of how those systems can engage in the recovery of the damage.