Acquisition of Employability Skills in Technical Vocational Education: Necessity for the 21st Century Workforce.

Abstract

Technical Vocational Education (TVE) institutions graduate students yearly, as the number of TVE graduates increases significantly the unemployment rate among youths increases in many countries, especially in the developing countries. Therefore, there is the need for TVE graduates to acquire employability skills in order for them to be gainfully employed to be able to fit into the 21st century workforce. This paper highlights on the concepts of TVE and employability. The paper discusses on the needs of the employers (industries) for the 21st century workforce and the importance of acquisition of employability skills in TVE institutions. The paper concludes that employability skills should be given greater emphasis in TVE by ensuring that employability skills are integrated into the curriculum of TVE institutions to ensure that TVE graduates acquire such skills to be able to fit into the 21st century workforce.