Wanted: jobs for Africa’s youth - Education and training

From Africa Renewal, Vol.20 #3 (October 2006), page 6 By Gumisai Mutume “It is clear that to rise out of poverty, the people of our continent need jobs and education,” says ECA Executive Secretary Janneh. “Not just any job, but one that provides a decent wage and employment conditions.” According to the Addis Ababa-based ECA, it is crucial for countries to expand training, lifelong learning, education and other means of improving skills, with a particular focus on young people.

As a start, many countries need to rebuild a formal education system that declined rapidly during the last few decades from the effect of cost-cutting measures adopted at the urging of the World Bank and IMF, notes an ILO study led by University of Zambia lecturer Francis Chigunta. These austerity policies, known as “structural adjustment,” led to deep cuts in public spending, including for food, health and education. Many schools were obliged to introduce fees, contributing to a decline in attendance by students from poor families.

Many countries are now trying to boost school enrolment rates, with some success. The special emphasis on getting more girls into school should ultimately improve the employability of young women in Africa. However, an estimated 45 million children aged between 6 and 11 still do not attend school in Africa.

Other studies highlight shortcomings in the focus of many educational systems in Africa, which concentrate on educating students for often nonexistent formal white-collar jobs, rather than for technical or factory-type work, which may be available.

To increase the employability of the 1 million young school-leavers entering the job market annually without appropriate skills, the Egyptian government in 1991 began to provide technical and vocational training to secondary school students. Over a three-year period, students spend two days a week at school and four days a week in training in a business. More than 1,600 companies are involved in the programme, which has so far reached more than 15,000 students. Graduates often find immediate employment or set up their own small enterprises.

To learn more about this author, visit Africa Renewal's Website.

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