Dear Editor,
Your editorial of December 4, 2007 “Fallen through the cracks” carried the provocative enquiry: “The question now is, how many others there are just like them training up to be hardened criminals? And can anything be done to turn their lives around.” Surely it is imperative that something be done. It seems certain that youth unemployment is not a temporary phenomenon but one that will endure.
With unemployment a-mongst school – leavers probably running at 30% nationally and over 50% in some areas, as against an economic growth forecast of less than 5%,even the most optimistic would have to predict that fairly large numbers of school-leavers will be unable to find work in Guyana during the next 5 to 10 years. The problem is compounded by the fact that any of the modest economic growth in the near future, or around the corner, is likely to be confined to those economic sectors that either are, or are about to become, capital-intensive as opposed to labour-intensive. And for reasons we accept or reject, for Guyana’s economy to become more globally competitive it has to become more skill-based.
Considering these realities the prospects become even gloomier. In this dour environment to do nothing is to court certain disaster.
Many among the more affluent socio-economic groups identify unemployed young men as being criminally inclined and a threat to their personal security. It is they who will become vandals, criminals and violent offenders. This is an un-healthy, unhelpful and dangerous perception as invariably it carries political, social and ethnic undertones.
One conventional ap-proach would be for government to establish Youth Instruction Centres and unemployed youth can be made to attend YICs as a condition for the receipt of a monetary benefit – YIC money. Careful research will be needed to properly define long-term unemployed and employable youth and a method of calculating YIC allowances which will not discourage the search for employment nor lower the willingness to work. YIC allowances may vary from region to region based on cost-of-living differentials.
Suggested YIC activities/ instruction, mainly by volunteer instructor/teachers, could include woodwork/carpentry, metalwork, weaving and other miscellaneous handicrafts, home handicrafts, cookery, motor mechanics, plumbing, basic electronics, telecommunications, book-keeping, marketing, electrical installation, agriculture, pig and poultry rearing etc.
In addition a degree of ‘general’ educational teaching is recommended ie literacy, numeracy, English, Modern History and Civics, drawing, carving and painting. The emphasis should clearly be on practical work and general education rather than training for specific occupations.
In many ways the curriculum to be used should be a Guyanese hybrid, reflecting both developing educational ideas/economic trends relevant to Guyana and the sort of ‘leisure-time’ activities en-couraged in youth clubs and organizations ie cricket and football.
How will these YICs be funded? YICs will rely almost entirely on volunteer educators. Government (perhaps using VAT revenue) in partnerships with the private sector should be explored and encouraged. It may be possible to tap into IFI/Donor community assistance and re-sources.
YIC should also be encouraged to organize their own individual fund-raising activities probably as exhibitions and show-case events.
The task is to provide young people with a clear choice between liming irresponsibly, drifting inexorably towards a life of crime and becoming productive, res-pected members of society. In other words, once the political will exists there would be no” cracks to fall through”, or, the cracks will be so insignificant a cockroach won’t pass.
Yours faithfully,
F Hamley Case
