The skills teaching shortfall in Northern Ireland is hurting the economy, business leaders told education minister Caitriona Ruane today.
The Institute of Directors (IoD) warned that basic computer use, reading and writing needed to improve dramatically with around 4,000 pupils entering the world of work without adequate numeracy and literacy.
Speaking after the Stormont meeting, IoD chairman Frank Bryan said employers were having to invest significant amounts training youths in skills they should already have.
"They can hardly spell. It is frightening the extent to which the schooling system has failed them," he said.
"Faced with a computer they run a mile in the opposite direction, they don't know how to interface with computers or have basic skills like word processing or spread sheets."
Mr Bryan that "as a society and as a local economy we are playing catch-up".
Ms Ruane is to introduce an enhanced curriculum next year and wants to see schools in local areas sharing students for specialist classes.
She wants to see children from the earliest years of primary schools learning skills relevant to the workplace but acknowledged it could be a decade or more before real results are seen.
The IoD is meeting with employment and learning minister Sir Reg Empey tomorrow to discuss related matters.