On Monday 22 January a 6-year-old boy fell into a pit toilet at a Limpopo school and died, sparking a national outcry at the conditions of our schools. A few weeks before a debate ensued over the validity of the matric pass rate (78,2%, up from 2012’s 73,9%), and as reported by the FedGroup’s CFO, Scott Field, last year’s matriculants are now entering a job market with an unemployment rate of over 50% for under-25s.
Fields further said that research from the Solidarity Research Institute revealed in its 2012 report that only 39,1% of the South African population have a matric or some form of tertiary education.
COVER reported on 16 January that the World Economic Forum published its Global Risks Report 2014. Pages 33 to 38 of the report look at the issues faced by ‘Generation Lost’ or ‘millennials’, young people between the ages of 14 and 23.
Close to home, we know the issues highlighted in the report well. Unemployment, unequal and costly education, coupled with single- or no-parent households and a rising population, what was supposed to be the ‘Born free’ generation has indeed become lost.
The report states, “Africa’s youth population currently totals 200 million and is projected to double by 2045.
“The growth of populations and cities puts pressure on food production, so the prospects for a young generation of farmers also need to be addressed.
“Nearly two-thirds of the youth in developing economies are not achieving their full economic potential, which holds back these economies.
“About 300 million young people – over 25% of the world’s youth population – have no productive work, according to World Bank estimates. Add low-paid rural and urban self-employed workers, and the estimates rise to 600 million. An unprecedented demographic ‘youth bulge’ is bringing more than 120 million new young people on to the job market each year, mostly in the developing world.”
You’ve probably stopped reading this column by now?
All of this makes me realise how lucky I am. At 25 I have a semi-roadworthy car, a fantastic job, and a garage flat in Edenvale (rent-free). I have paid off my university debt (R120 000) in two years, and I don’t owe anyone anything (except maybe e-Tolls).
We have problems, yes, but we also have solutions. The Global Risks report does not only focus on the negatives. It states that millennials are resourceful members of the digital revolution, which has given them “unprecedented access to knowledge and information worldwide”.
Also this month, the Youth Café was opened in Mitchells Plain in Cape Town, introducing the youth to Zlato, a digital currency which they can use to access the internet. Similar uplifting initiatives have been launched throughout the country, and with the rise of mobile communication technology, anything is possible.
When I was a 6-year-old red-faced gap-toothed first grader with borrowed ribbons in my hair, Nelson Mandela visited my school to donate computers.
As I said, I’ve been lucky.