After a six-hour-long debate, the National Assembly on Thursday adopted the National Youth Policy, which the opposition criticised for failing to address the reality of young people in Guyana.
The motion for the adoption of the policy, moved by Junior Education Minister Nicolette Henry, was passed, despite opposition calls for it to be sent to a parliamentary select committee for more work.
A total of 15 speakers from both sides of the House made presentations, many of which were deemed too lengthy. The length of the presentations prompted Speaker Dr. Barton Scotland to eventually reduce the allotted time for the last set of contributions to 15 minutes, although the opposition did not approve and asked that the set time be reviewed. They were, however, unsuccessful.
In her remarks, Henry said the policy seeks to enlarge the overall advancement of all Guyanese youth. She said that it identifies those attributes that a Guyanese youth should aspire to acquire and made it clear that it will be reviewed periodically and updated within a five-year-period or earlier if the need arises.
She noted that upon assuming office last May, preliminary work was done to conceptualise the policy. After a review of what was already in existence, including the groundwork laid by the former Culture, Youth and Sport ministry, she added, what was needed was later determined through a consultative and collaborative process.
According to Henry, the policy addresses five strategic areas: improving the social, emotional and cultural skills of young Guyanese; producing a productive and enterprising youth workforce; developing quality education and market-oriented skills; encouraging leadership, participation and representation; and promoting good health, security and safety.
She also noted that there are nine youth policy development policy priorities: identity; empowerment; education; skills development; employment; entrepreneurship; safety; health and well-being; political participation; and representation.
Additionally, she said the policy will also guide youth work grounded by seven clearly-defined principles: Adopt a rights-based approach; adopt an asset-based approach in which the youth is seen as a human resource who are assets to be developed; ensure equity; advance youth and gender mainstreaming; adopt an evidence-based decision-making approach; develop an enabling environment which speaks to the development of an environment conducive to the development and empowerment of youth; and advance good governance.
The policy, she stressed, is part of government’s broader plan for “greater democratic participation, equitable economic and social progress for all… This policy…is one that the young people, their families and this country will benefit.”
She added that the policy is linked to the empowerment of young people as individuals and Guyanese citizens through life skills development support, enabling environments, arts, sport, culture and volunteerism.
“Furthermore, its seeks to create an enabling environment for the reduction of youth unemployment through self-employment, entrepreneurship and demand-driven education and training,” she said, while adding that it aims to develop an effective and dynamic national system of formal and informal education that is accessible by all young people, that ensures functional literacy and equips young people with the skills demanded by the market and what is needed to overcome existing challenges.
Not the reality
Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Dr. Frank Anthony said that he has always maintained that youth is a big topic and cannot be constrained to one section or the other. “When you look at what we would have done in the years as the PPP/C government, you would have seen policies and programmes for youth development spread across various ministries…,” he said.
Noting that several youth policy documents were developed by the previous administration, he said that the new policy has very little about Guyana and the national statistics representing young people. “What we did was to borrow statistics from the Caribbean, which perhaps might have some relevance—because it gives is a certain trend of what is happening in the region—but it does not present the reality of young people in Guyana,” he said, while adding that having this reality is important because if the wrong diagnosis is made, then the correct treatment cannot be applied.
“In this case, what you have is not going through the statistics, not doing the homework, not drawing from the previous documents that we have had and using that to now do a proper situational analysis so that we can move forward. Not doing those things then put this policy at a disadvantage,” he said.
Anthony appealed to the government members to let the policy be sent a parliamentary select committee so that it “can be strengthened.”
He said that in the last draft of the youth policy, there were about 13 priority areas identified by the young people themselves. That, he said, has been “condensed to five or six.”
Anthony said that when one looks at the policy response, it is clear that things are missing. He described what is being proposed as “very piecemeal.” “And you wonder if it is actually addressing the problems that were identified or the challenges that were identified in the situational analysis,” he further said.
Step in the right direction
Government MP Jermaine Figueira, in his contribution, pointed out that in Guyana 68% of the population is 35 and under.
“This 68% is a representation of a generation who grew up under the previous administration; a generation, Mr. Speaker, that experienced the largest incarceration and extra judicial killing of their peers. A generation, Mr. Speaker, who sought for a life in a foreign land because they feared for their lives and thought they could not build a successful life in their country,” he said, while adding that the country’s young people are intelligent, bold, strong, resilient and endowed with enormous potential to succeed in life.
“As a country, we have not invested enough in our young people. Our government, Mr. Speaker, will be the instigator, the catalyst for change and this national youth policy we are presenting here today is a step in the right direction to provide a good life for all Guyanese,” he stressed, while adding that it is his hope that at the debate will add and build on what the country desperately needs.
He said that Guyana is lagging behind in the availability of a youth policy as many sister Caribbean countries already have that in place.
“The policy is a concoction of ideas, vision and thinking of Guyana’s youth from all ten administration regions, youth organisations, religious bodies and civil society. Government acknowledges that a lot more should have been done for the young people of our nation, over the many years past. But we also accept that the past is what it is and we have to do what should have been done and more for our youth to move this country forward,” he added.
‘Seriously lacking’
Dr Vindhya Persaud said that she found what was brought before the House to be “seriously lacking” in many respects. “It does not address in many ways the dynamic and evolving means of youth of today’s world, specifically youth in Guyana,” she added.
She said that when one thinks of a policy document, there are certain fundamental aspects that it must have. “That document drives choices and compromises of every modern government,” she said, while noting that when it is put in place, it must have timeframes, mechanisms and strategies to achieve things and must have enough detail to determine whether it would be impactful. “This document is lacking in all of these aspects,” she added.
The thrust of the presentations of the other opposition MPs was that government was not building on the foundation laid by the PPP/C governments with regards to development opportunities for youth. The House was told that under the PPP/C, the government was youthful and one MP spoke of how young former president Bharrat Jagdeo was as well the young persons who held ministerial positions.
