• ‘Job seekers need demonstrable skills’
The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has said those searching for jobs need demonstrable skills to be successful.
The JAMB boss counselled that university degrees would no longer be a sole guarantee for getting jobs in today’s Information Age.
Delivering the convocation lecture, titled: Learning, Unlearning and Relearning- Prerequisites of the Digital Age, at the Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, Ilorin, the state capital, Oloyede urged Nigerians to prepare for the challenges of the ever-changing Information Age.
He said the citizens needed to take lifelong learning seriously and show genuine willingness to adapt to changing circumstances.
The JAMB boss, who noted that learning is useless without practice, described relearning as the ability to acquire new skills, knowledge, and perspectives quickly and effectively.
“For all, the imperative of learning, relearning, and unlearning cannot be over-emphasised as the tonic that gives vitality to successful living in today’s Information age. Those who can learn, relearn, and unlearn are the successful ones, and those without the mindset that accommodates the triad are bound to perpetually lament.
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“The world of today is totally different from the world inhabited by our forebears. One of the factors responsible for this change is the totality of what makes the Information Age, which is still evolving as technology develops rapidly.
“The changes of the world provide new opportunities and threats. While there are new opportunities in Information Technology, the existing jobs as typists, receptionists, traditional printers, telephone booth operators, computer operators, factory workers, cashiers, travel agents, fuel attendants, among others, are on the verge of extinction.
“New opportunities will emerge in the high tech sector and many skills that were not otherwise taught in traditional schools would be needed. Degrees would no longer be sole guarantors of jobs but demonstrable skills will.
“In this regard, there won’t be any difference between those who are literate and those who are illiterate without the cutting-edge skills that are associated with learning, relearning, and unlearning.
“Therefore, the onus of the responsibility lies on everyone to get prepared for the challenges of the Information Age by taking lifelong learning seriously and being willing to change as circumstances unfold,” he said.
The JAMB boss told the KWASU graduates that learning, unlearning, and relearning were the compasses that would guide them in the uncharted territories of the Digital Age.
“These processes are not separate but interwoven elements of a holistic approach to personal and professional development. The illiterate of the 21st century, as Alvin Toffler profoundly noted, will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
“Your ability to embrace these principles will set you apart and empower you to navigate the challenges and seize the opportunities of our rapidly changing world,” oloyede said.
KWASU’s acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Shaykh-Luqman Jimoh, said today’s humans live in an era of unprecedented technological advancements.
The vice chancellor said Nigeria’s educational institutions must become catalysts for transformation by preparing graduates for the challenges of today and for the rapidly evolving landscape of the Digital Age.
“This lecture cannot be more timely and more relevant in this period when certain knowledge is fast becoming obsolete at an ever-increasing pace.
“The ability to unlearn outdated concepts and practices, and relearn new ones, therefore, becomes a crucial skill,” he added.