• Thabile Mange writes:
What does the future hold for our youth? Are we doing enough to prepare them for tomorrow? Are we creating a conducive environment for them to thrive? Or are we eating from their future? There are no easy answers.
The truth is that our youth is under siege. They are unemployed, depressed, and hopeless. In addition, most of them lack skills relevant to the job market. The majority don’t have skills at all. That means they will remain unemployed for a long time to come.
The academically gifted young lions are financially excluded from studying in universities because fees are expensive. The higher learning institutions also have limited space to accommodate all those who want to study for their junior degrees and postgraduate degrees. So, most are forced to stay at home.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is there to help fund studies for capable students who come from poor backgrounds. However, NSFAS has become a milking cow for certain individuals, resulting in deserving students not getting the necessary funding for their studies.
Those who have entrepreneurial spirit don’t have money to fund their business ideas. Banks cannot give them loans because they don’t have credit records, let alone bank accounts. The black youth is in a worse position. It is what it is.
Consequently, the youth ends up being involved in crime. This is partly due to social erosion and staying at home doing nothing. The result is jail. Unfortunately, we lose some as they become jailbirds. Others get rehabilitated but join the long queue of the unemployed.
One other thing that is killing our youth is drugs, which are easily accessible. In the black townships, nyaope, which is cheap, is dealing a blow on our young lions. They talk in slow motion and walk like robots. Our police seem to be losing the fight against these destructive substances.
Who is to blame for the above? All of us, including our democratic government. This is happening right to our noses and we are not doing much to stop it. Instead of acting to curb the situation, we talk on the sidelines and blame everyone but ourselves.
In essence, we are failing our kids. Their future is doomed because of us. But it’s not too late; we can still redeem ourselves by doing something to avert the worst. More importantly, we need to work in unison, not in silos, to help our kids.
