Although the youths of today are receiving an education, they are now battling to find job opportunities. Stuart Hess reports
MORE than 40% of young South Africans are neither employed nor in school, according to a study conducted by the National Youth Commission.
This alarming figure, which applies to young people aged 14 to 35, can be blamed on a number of historical and cultural issues, says commission chair Mahlengeni Bhengu.
The situation is prevalent among the country’s female population. “Many young women in rural areas are inhibited by a lack of opportunities owing mainly to early motherhood and the status of young women in rural areas where traditional law still exists,” says Bhengu.
Young people in such areas have found no opportunities in the job market – and no training system is in place.
Nkhabele Prusent, director of Employment Services in the Department of Labour, sees unemployment as a major problem. “Young people are nowhere in South Africa today,” she says.
She believes the government has to look at improving the skills of school-leavers, thereby enabling them to have practical experience before they enter the workplace.
“We need a skills revolution which looks at careers outside teaching or administration,” says Prusent. “We need youngsters with technical skills to be engineers or scientists.”
For this to happen, however, the attitude of teachers and other trainers needs to change. The government needs to become serious about implementing the many strategies and plans it envisages for young people – “to have a stronger focus on the needs of the youth in South Africa, especially in terms of job opportunities”, says Bhengu.
The commission praises the government for the “huge strides” it has made in recognising the important role youth play in South Africa.
The commission, established in 1996 to assist the government in developing a youth policy which would enhance job opportunities, skills training and education, will present its findings to the government at the end of the year.
Bhengu believes government’s higher education policy is “well co-ordinated” and provides the majority of young people in South Africa with opportunities they never had in the past.
African National Congress Youth League representative Thabo Masebe says the youth of today are fighting a different battle to those of 1976. “That generation [1976] was fighting for equality and against Bantu Education,” he says. “Young people today have the opportunity in terms of education, but they are fighting for jobs and other means of improving their lives.”
He believes the government has provided opportunities for the youth they have never had before, but in terms of employment opportunities the situation has not changed “that much”, compared to the period leading up to the elections in 1994. There is “a lot of hope” among young people today that the quality of life will improve.
The youth league views its role as “sensitising” the government about problems facing the youth today. “We will assist them with establishing initiatives and programmes aimed at accelerating youth development,” says Masebe.