•Shared different challenges faced while acquiring skills
By Uchechukwu Nwafor
Following the declaration by the United Nations General Assembly in 2014 that set July 15 of every year for the World Youth Skill Day which focuses on technical and vocational skill development in youths, and specifically, their ability to access affordable, quality technical and vocational education and training, about 50 Persons With Disabilities (PLWDs) were exposed to various life-transforming skills.
The first World Youth Skills Day was celebrated on 15 July 2015. World Youth Skills Day recognises the importance of equipping young people with skills that can help them in becoming entrepreneurs, find employment that offers them decent work.
The theme for this year’s World Youth Skill Day is ‘Reimagining Youth Skills Post-Pandemic’, which aims to celebrate the resilience and creativity of youth throughout the crisis.
Sabol International Schools, Ibadan in Oyo State is a special school for people with disabilities.
A skill acquisition exercise was organized by the schools on Thursday, July 15. The vocational exercise was organized in a special way in commemoration of the World Youth Skill Day.
The Head of the school, Mrs Oladunmi Adepoju, acknowledged that people with disabilities under her care learn skills very fast especially the Deaf while the ones with other disabilities demand a lot of patience and dedication in other to teach them the way they can easily understand and this pose as a challenge to the instructors.
According to the school headmistress, the vocational section of the school started in 2015, when it was noticed that the four-wall classroom studies for the special pupils were not enough to equip them adequately to face the world.
Reacting to the theme for this year’s World Youth Skill day which is ‘Reimagining Youth Skills Post-Pandemic ‘, Mrs Adepoju said that the school is trying its best to expose people with disabilities under their care to more skills in other to meet up with the sections it lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She added that adequate COVID-19 protocols were observed while impacting the skills on the pupils, as the pupils were split into groups to avoid overcrowding.
Speaking after the event, an instructor, Mrs Ajao Oluwanifemi, who specialises in hairdressing said that she enjoys teaching her pupils because of the joy she derives in seeing them learn the skills.
She added that about 44 people living with disabilities attended the training.
Another vocational instructor, Mr Afeez Makinde said he always feel delighted teaching people with disabilities. “Most of the people that attended my section are mostly male ones, and they learn easily. About 70 per cent of them picked up during the shoemaking section. They can now repair shoes and make new shoes too.”
Speaking on how PLWDs cope, he said, “I don’t usually encounter many challenges while teaching them; except with the ones that have problems with making use of their hands.”
A computer facilitator, Mr Nnadozie Onyekuru, conducted the computer training section which had majorly the hearing impaired persons in attendance. Mr Nnadozie commended the school authority for making it possible for the persons with disabilities to engage in learning skills adding, “My students performed so well, the only challenge they face via computer training is only in trying to identify the letters on the keyboard.”
The beneficiaries of the event expressed their utmost gladness for benefiting from the skill acquisition programme.
Mausi Sutton, one of the pupils said, “I have learnt a lot on bead making and I will like to make a living out of it.”
Another beneficiary, Obisan Ayomide said, “I enjoy making shoes, I don’t face any challenge making them, I derive joy in making shoes and I will like to make shoes later on in life.”
In line with the World Youth Skill Day, people with disabilities in Sabol School learnt five different skills which include; Shoemaking, Hairdressing, tailoring, Computer skills and bead making.
Due to the impact of COVID-19 on economies, the World Bank noted that the trend toward poverty reduction observed for more than two decades was reversed in 2020. The number of people living in extreme poverty increased by 93 million. Hence there is a need for youths to key into a skill for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship which makes for a brighter and safer future
