On National Youth Day, know how India can close its massive skill gap and deal with unemployment

National Youth Day is celebrated every year in India on the birth date of Swami Vivekananda, born on January 12, 1863. "To meet the constantly changing job scenarios and to keep yourself updated, skilling has become a must for every working professional," Gupta says, adding that quality upskilling could help the Indian economy manage this skill gap. Here is why parents should take young children to career counselling as per Divya Jain: They have to be counselled to see themselves as a valuable person who can contribute to the society and family To build self-respect To understand how vocational education will increase his/her skills and provide him a job opportunity To understand how vocational education will teach life skills, hard and soft skills, and build confidence To understand how vocational education can give them recognition in the job market How schools can help bridge the skill gap in India As information becomes more freely available thanks to the internet and smartphones come in every middle-class hand -- even young ones today’s kids are much sharper than yesterday’s children. Read: Skill development in school education: Importance of evolving skill training from a young age "We need to intervene at the school level and offer these options to our youth," agrees Jain but notes that most of our traditional education systems do not recognize skill training as the prime factor or resource for job opportunities. "Educational institutions should be able to identify the expertise of students at a very tender age and try to uplift that particular skill set to make them job ready in that sector," says Jain, adding that schools and universities should include various life skill set courses.