If the survey I referred to in my last
blog entry is anything to go by, the youth of Sri Lanka do not see a future for
them in the island. Offered a chance they will leave at the first instance, and
therefore have voted with their feet, and they are also disgruntled with the
political process having lost faith.
Young people are idealistic and that is
a defining quality of Youth. Therefore it is important that this enthusiasm is
not stifled, and turned into despair instead. A responsible opposition should
seize this opportunity and prepare Youth for a better future with a believable
set of policies that the opposition agrees to put forward to actually attract
the youth vote.
The main issues that concern youth are
improving their employment prospects, improving the quality of education, and
matching the skills to the vacancies and carry out programs to reduce this void
between, jobs available and skills to fill them. As a matter of policy, the opposition
has undertaken to double education spending at National Level, and most of that
will go to the Free Education sector, from Montessori all the way to Tertiary
Level. Instead of building construction, where there is a lot of leakage due to
kickbacks, the attention MUST be in retraining teachers to the required levels
as 75% of teachers in the state sector WILL NOT pass a competency test today
for the subjects they teach. If the quality of the education system improves,
then some of the required skills will be available just as result of a better
educated and motivated student who is able to think clearly and apply their
attention to specific areas of employment.
In my line of work, I interview dozens
of youth monthly and none of them without exception are able to clearly define
what they want. I guess those who really know what they want, don’t come to me!
How can I say politely that those who then come to me are the no hopers! Actually
they really need my help in find their focus first. Once they know what it is
they want, then that is half the battle, they are almost there in their march
for success.
We must have leadership programs to
empower youth in finding their jobs for themselves AND NOT be dependent on
others! Aspects of this will include how they should go about planning their
lives, so that they will obtain a relative level of satisfaction and NOT success
and we must encourage them to put satisfaction over income level.
We then map out best as we can what the
future would look like and provide appropriate training in the fields where the
needs are expected to be the greatest, both locally and overseas, where we permit people the opportunity to explore the world and return with qualifications, and experience in fields of benefit to Sri Lanka.
It must offer every emigrant a desire to return once their short term aspirations are met.
Of course just employment is NOT the answer, but a living wage where basic aspirations can be fulfilled. Most wages today, do not permit the young person to live on their own, outside of their parent's home leading to much disillusionment.
Making promises to fill this is a tall order, and it is most important that they are not mere promises and are followed with deeds. It is this believable platform, that must be introduced, for renewed interest in the political process and for the main opposition as a matter of priority. Giving the message that connects with the target group is the 64,000 dollar question.
The youth vote is a critical element in winning an election, and it is now clear that the Govt. campaign is just smoke and mirrors, which may try and confuse some of its merits, but the vast majority is likely to view it cynically, and choose NOT to exercise their franchise, unless the opposition can justify the reason for voting, in their best interests.
2 comments:
you've had a great deal of interactions with youth to get an idea of what they want, but to make your campaign most effective, you must do some in-depth scientific research to determine what youth want, and why. the why is also very important. for example if they want jobs, that is to be able to afford what? what is the aspiration of youths in material terms? do they want a simple home (achievable) or do they want a mansion and rolls royce (unlikely)? if their aspirations are realistic, then work towards developing a platform to help them achieve their aspirations. I believe that land and housing are the biggest expense they will have in their lives, and the price of this must become affordable -- either by bringing down the prices of land/housing or increasing wages of people. in this sense, the highways are tremendously helpful in allowing people to live farther from the cities, where land/housing is much less expensive, and allowing them to commute effectively to work. very helpful indeed, so no need to slag the highways just for the sake of doing it because you feel politically motivated to do it otherwise you become less of a believable voice in the public debate.
also, as has been mentioned many times, the education system needs to be altered to also promote crativity, business skills, critical thinking, ethics, and intercommunal harmony (hisotry/backgrounds of all in the island)
speaking of sri lankan construction profiteering, there is a 5 star branded hotel being built in the south by a man made rich by skimming millions from the construction work of the Mahaweli public works under gamini dissanayaka (UNP), with his approval and consent, who now has supposedly obtained loan funding for his own local hotel company from the United States Government and is implementing the construction of the hotel project using his own construction company. If he makes money on the hotel or not, he'll have skimmed millions from the U.S. Government loan, and the taxpayers of the United States will have made him millions!! huge conflict of interest overlooked by american bureaucrats unaware of the wiles of our people.
kalpanakaranna!!
Post a Comment