The youth of today have witnessed very hard times and sometimes find themselves hopeless and despaired about the future. Most times they enlist some sort of desideratum in them because of the current ways in which events unfold. This is manly due to certain reasons like inefficient guidance and counseling of youth.
- Child Labor
- Unemployment
- Sufficiency and insufficiency of educational infrastructure
- Moral Decadence
- Diseases
- Non engagement in state activities
- Political instability
- Bribery and corruption
- Discrimination on and amongst youth.
All the aforementioned points have a preponderant role to play on the youth. They influence their lives and to a greater extent their wellbeing. In order to seek ways at which the welfare of yout can be improved we have to first of all have a comprehensive view of their problems before seeking solutions to them. To start with we will begin with the aforementioned points in that chronology.
1. Inefficient guidance and counseling of youth
Guidance and counseling is a means by which parents and guidance counselors mostly in schools could help youth in building a foundation of their future career and on societal issues. But this has never been the case since most parents have tend to be dictators on their children’s future career and hence most youth have been in constant crises with their parents. This has tend for the most part to mislead the youth and has also frustrated most who find themselves in fields not of their choice and hence having no incentive to grow and progress within the field.
As a remedy to this situation seminars and workshops could be organized to educate parents on how to help them to choose the career of their children if they have to or to help identify the career of their children and discuss it with their children. It should also be based on ways of enhancing parent - child relationships.
For example in places like Africa toys could be used by parents to identify the points of interest of kids which will then help identify their future careers.
Mostly in very religious countries the church has a great role to play in guiding and counseling youth on most societal ills like prostitution, drug addiction, theft and on crime wave as a whole.
Furthermore, the reinforcement of guidance and counseling in schools and other institutions will help youth to get a good career where they are dedicated and hence they will be able to grow and progress in such fields.
2. Child labor
Child labor as the name implies has been a rapidly growing phenomenon over the years. It is simply any way or activity by which the mental, physical and social development of under-aged children could be impaired. It varies from country to country and from rural to urban areas with the main reason being that of poverty. Here children are being subjected to jobs like farming, being house helps, working in quarries and mines, prostitution, drug addiction just to name but a few. Most people are of the motion that child labor be discouraged because it only helps to damage the children and makes their future obscured since they work long hours with little reward and because it actually adds nothing to their well-being.
To this effect the creation of organizations both at the national and international level to assist the International Labour Organization (ILO) will be of great help. They will be able to survey nationally, at the rural and urban level, child labor practices and also child trafficking. They would also do it at the international level.
Secondly, sensitization campaigns both at the rural and urban levels will be of great help since at the rural level especially parents are the ones who willingly surrender their children to these child traffickers after being convinced of the betterment of their children’s positions in cities and how they will be able to send back home money of which the story is not always true. Individuals are also called upon to be vigilant and report any suspects on this issue to the appropriate quarters.
Thirdly, the sensitization or the putting on the alert of policemen at major checkpoints and at international boundaries will do a great contribution towards the fight against child labor.
Fourthly, severe judicial measures should be laid down against defaulters to secure people from indulging in child trafficking and child labor.
Finally, since the major cause of child labor is due to poverty, most governments should adopt various measures to combat poverty. These measures are discussed under unemployment.
2. Unemployment
Unemployment could be regarded as a period when people are temporarily or permanently having no jobs or work to do. This is one of the major problems faced by youth today. Without employment most youth will be unable to carter for their needs and even for those who are directly or indirectly dependent on them. Due to unemployment youth in their idleness have resorted to a lot of negative activities, which have neither been beneficial to them nor to their countries. Unemployment especially among youth could be curbed by the sensitization of youth on self-employment. This could be in terms of workshops, seminars, rallies, campaigns just to name but a few.
Secondly, governments of most countries could take the challenge to create jobs through the following ways: Firstly, by expanding or opening up their economies to diverse fields like agriculture, hydrology, meteorology and climatologic, civil aviation, genetic engineering, aeronautics just to name a few, which are absent in the economies of most developing nations. This will help to create employment in the fields mentioned above.
Thirdly, the government should come up with favorable policies with different nations on investment, which will help foreign investors to be stimulated to come and invest hence reducing unemployment.
Fourthly, the government should create industries, which are mostly labor intensive and not capital inattentive. Still, industry subsidies could be granted to industries willing to witness a high growing rate of unemployment. Also, the government should see into the decentralization of overcrowded industrial zones to other areas of rising populations of unemployment.
Fifthly, most educational systems around the world should be reformed in such a way as to ensure self-employment after the students leave school especially at the level of colleges and universities. Vocational schools and other processional schools will be of greater help than general education.
Sixthly, the retirement ages of civil servants especially in Africa should be scrutinized against those who reduce their ages through fake documents in order to stay long in service hence hindering employment opportunities for youth. And also these ages should be strictly followed and those due for retirement should be forced to go on retirement.
Finally, governments should reduce their taxes. This has been the cry of most nations on developing nations because this acts as a deterrent to foreign investment. Nationally, it helps to reduce the income of most workers and also deters local investment. If taxes are reduced especially on foreign investments most foreign investors will be attracted and hence employment will go on the rise. This story holds true for local investment, too.
If taxes in effect are reduced on personal incomes savings will increase and hence investment, too. And also if taxes are reduced on already existing companies and enterprises they may have potentials to realize larger profits, which they may plough into the business have enabling growth and hence increasing employment.
4. Inefficiency and insufficient educational structures
In most parts of Africa and Asia, schools are seen as a luxury because of their few numbers and also in other areas they are non-existent. People often have to travel long distances to get to schools and this is for those who can afford school fees. In some places learning is made difficult by poverty; students cannot afford transport money to go to school, insufficient staff and sometimes insufficiency of didactic material.
To this effect schools should be built where there is need and also equipped with the right labor force. Didactic material should also be applied to these schools in the right quantities and at the right time to enable proper learning.
Most governments and other international organizations can also help youth by offering them scholarships, especially in Africa and Asia, which will help them to pay their fees or even make them study abroad in order to come back and help their countries.
More formation centers for teachers should be created both at the regional levels and national level to cater the ever increasing need for teaches and lecturers.
Also, in order to reduce the number of students going abroad to study of which very few will return to help their countries, programs in colleges and universities should be diversified and brought up to date with international standards.
5. Moral decadence
Over the last few years, morals worldwide have been on the decline and youth are not left out of the story since they form an important part of the society. Today, dressing habits are fast changing, from bad to worse, mentalities are also changing considering right things as wrong and things as right, images on the media are all about prostitution, breast increment, pornography and stuff like that. And this is exactly what the youth copy. They become disobedient to their parents and just of their own way.
Looking at this problem closely if we target the youth through the media, sensitizing them an moral issues through journals, a TV station exclusively for youth, magazines, Internet books and other means of passing on the information. This will to a greater extend solve the problem on morals.
Also with the integration of civics and ethics as a course into school curriculum many youth will get aware of the current cry on the falling standards of morals among youth. Subsidies could also be granted to publishers of articles on morals be they in journals, books, magazines and other sources or media through which this information could be disseminated. Religious leaders too have a great role to play in the fight on the fall of morals. They should in their teachings and doctrines spread out targeted moral issues to the fullest. This will enable most youth to be called to order and whenever they are about to depart they will always have a bell to ring in their heads.
Another major point here is that of mixing youth of a lower age group with those of a higher age group in prisons as it has been realized that the ideas of most youth before they get into prison become worse when they get out of prison. Mixing hardened criminals with youth of power age groups whose crimes were even milder than that of others in the same all helps instead to broaden their minds in evil ways. If some separation is done it will help a lot in the fight against the fall in morals.
Finally, forums could be created in schools and out of schools in different associations where youth can come together to interact and exchange ideas on various issues and on morals. This will actually help most youth together as a unified force to fully fight against moral decadence and each youth will be self-conscious about all the ills that plague our society as far as a decline in morals is concerned.
6. Diseases
Most of the youth today are very skeptical about their future due to the prevalence of diseases like polio, HIV/AIDS, malaria, meningitis just to name but a few. They feel despaired about living up to 70 or 80 years or more. At times they say they are unfortunate to have been born at this epoch full of all sorts of diseases that are feared like HIV/AIDS, which could reduce the youth population of Sub-Saharan Africa by half in the year 2020 if nothing is done quickly.
But there is still hope for the youth if only they follow certain basic principles in life. Malaria and HIV/AIDS are the diseases, which take away most lives of youth. Poliomyelitis though, which is mostly targeting children, should not be left out because when these children grow they are handicapped and become stigmatized by others. They may not have the same opportunities in life than other youth who are fully healthy in terms of jobs, education, positions at different venues and stuff like that. They will always be relegated to the background.
Workshops and seminars could be organized to raise the awareness and educate both the youth and their parents on the aforementioned diseases. International organizations can also help by sponsoring research programs especially on HIV/AIDS, which still doesn’t have a cure as of now. This sponsorship could be both at the international and national levels. While waiting for a remedy to this disease subsidies could be made by sponsors on HIV/AIDS research programs on anti-retroviral drugs and condoms. This could be done through the respective governments of each country. Wide scale sensitization campaigns could be carried out by the world Health Organization (WHO) through the media by passing through celebrities and stars. Most governments of different countries could create local HIV/AIDS committees. For example, in Cameroon almost all the quarters in major cities and some rural areas have these committees, which carry out their own sensitization at the level of the quarter and continuously raise the awareness of the inhabitants of that quarter.
As far as poliomalytis is concerned a lot still needs to be done especially in Africa on sensitization and education. This is because most parents are not willing to cooperate with the ongoing program to kick polio out of Africa by the year 2010. They don’t present their children for vaccination for reasons that their children will be killed. Others say they don’t want their children vaccinated lest they become sterile and stuff like that.
Clubs on HIV/AIDS and other diseases could be created in schools to raise the awareness of the youth who are the highly endangered age group. More funds from international and national organizations should be diverted to research and sensitization of the entire population. Also, in these sensitization campaigns emphasis should also be laid on conservation and preservation of the natural environment since drugs come from plants in the environment. Medical technology if made on a global scale, where researchers in different countries could concert to work as a team to fight these diseases, great improvements will be realized and a lot of progress will be registered.
Finally, most top ranking officials in countries and in different organizations have been seen to be the deterrents of the fight against HIV/AIDS; while people suffer and die others become millionaires. It is for this reason that they will hinder all efforts towards the production of a vaccine or drug and even if there is, with their influence they will with convince the international community that it is fake and unreliable. To these people of whom some are in the WHO, intervention can only come from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the United Nations (UN). Governments at their own level should see into it so that this practice be stopped for the prosperity of the well-being of human lives which are being lost everyday especially in Africa.
7. Non-active engagement in state activities
Most nations or countries in the less developed world have witnessed serious crises due to the fact that only old people are holding strategic positions in the governments. Most times they will tell you politics is for the old and not for the young. Some make countries to look more or less like chiefdoms and refuse to let power or even delegate their powers to others apart from their sons and brothers. This situation is very peculiar with Presidents of most African nations. As a result of all this (struggle for power which eventually leads to dictatorship) most youth who feel relegated to the background resort to terrorism, strikes, coup d’états, wars, occultism, theft, drug addiction and other ills. This is simply because they think they do not have a say in the affairs of the state so the government which is made mostly of old people can not best know what’s best for them. Instead they only force ideas on them and their freedom of speech is being impaired. It should be noted in this context that when we talk of the government here we mean the ruling government that is the President and his ministers and even parliamentarians. What youth are asking for is a mix of both the young and the old to have a better vision of the nation rather than the old seeking only for things, which will benefit them mostly and give them lots of money.
The creation of Ministries, which deal with youth problems is good but things would be much better if these ministries are run by youth because they best know their problems. These ministries should focus on employment for youth, human rights issues, and the entire welfare of youth and most importantly the awareness of the youth to the electoral process since they have the right to vote and choose their future leader(s).
Youth should also be given a certain level or degree of freedom of speech because in certain countries in Africa youth have been killed just because they want to express their view points on certain issues which were not just. The representation of youth in parliaments in different countries to defend their interest could be of great help to most nations. The issue on youth not being accorded contracts in some countries is a situation we must stand to our feet and riot about. Most political systems are structured in a way that only older people should execute contracts but if they could work as a team with youth the youths will also get the experience they have and even execute contracts better than them.
8. Political instability
Most nations especially in some parts of Africa have witnessed a lot of political instability over recent years. This has imply been due to bad governance in most countries, monarchy in certain countries, too much intervention from the western world like the case of Iraq and Côte D’Ivoire of late, megalomaniac and mismanagement in some nation. With all this it is the youth who suffer most. This is simply because in the event of wars they will be the ones to pick up arms and fight, while youth in other countries are peacefully going to school and progressing in life. Most countries always long for peace and tranquility but they do not work towards it. And it should be noted that thousand of youth loose their lives every time wars are fought.
To achieve this most countries should try to emulate from others a good democratic system. Also, most colonial masters should try to change the constitutions of most of their colonies. This is so because these nations have constitutions, which favor only a few people in that nation. They should also see into the revision of the constitution to the benefit of the entire nation and neither for their own interest or that of some few egoistic individuals.
Good governance by most governments in nations will be very much encouraged and will help a great deal. The ousting of some leaders who are a treat to the national and international community like Sadam Hussein and many more who are still hiding will be of great help to the country and to the international community at large.
Most times the United Nations (UN) should see into it so that some counties in the western world do not over-interfere into the activities of other nations because this will primarily lead to conflicts between nations and in the long run tend to be a war or something like that. And it also follows that some nations are trying to control the world like the United States of America (USA); the UN and other international organizations should try to chip their wings.
Finally, the UN is highly solicited to be very objective in their decisions and also the UN should be fully empowered so that no one nation goes against its verdicts and if they do severe sanctions should be applied to those defaulters.
9. Bribery and corruption
Bribery and corruption is an act that is eating fast into the marrows of our societies. Most countries especially in Africa have been highlighted to have an outstanding rate of corruption and bribery. How does this then affect the youth? In the case of a job interview if you do not ‘oil the lips’ of the invigilators it’s certain you would not have the job no matter your qualification. In schools, teachers award marks to students who do not merit it to the detriment of others after one or two favors from the students, which may be material or physical. Most passenger vehicles run without the necessary books because when stopped they will just give some money to the policemen and go free. Criminals get imprisoned today and get out tomorrow. And it can go on and on. The problem here is that this situation affects the youth directly and since they are the future leaders of tomorrow they want these malpractices to be terminated.
Bribery and corruption should be made expensive. Culprits should be passed through severe judicial procedures, that is long imprisonment terms with high amounts as fines to scare people from indulging in such activities. Sensitization and education should be carried out at all levels in institutions, associations, in churches and other areas to consciously raise the consciousness of people. Perpetually, conferences and seminars should be conducted in this light to help remedy this malady, which has taken most of our societies and nations on hostage.
10. Discrimination on and among youth
Discrimination here could be looked upon as race, gender, social status, nationality just to name but a few. Discrimination of youth is mostly by the government. For example, in most nations in Africa with many ethnic groups priority will always be given to some youth from particular tribes than others. This priority could be manifested in terms of employment, promotion, post of responsibilities, public exams and even on the execution of contracts or projects. Discrimination among youth is between the wealth, color, and gender and so on. Youth are the future leaders of our beautiful nation and we must make them to be at peace with each other leaving behind their origins, cultures, social status, wealth and other related stuff.
If proper education and sensitization campaigns on racism were given to both parents and children to forget about color and origins the world would be a better place for you and me to live in. Also, with the introduction of what the USA is doing that is the diversity lottery into other developed countries, problems on racism will be reduced. This is because it brings people from far and wide, with different cultures and backgrounds to interact with each other and this reduces issues of discrimination. Jobs should be made open to all without discrimination both at the national level and at the international level. Discrimination in educational systems from the board setting the exam and that supervising the exams in order to avoid some people passing the exams who do not merit a pass and others failing who merit a pass. In a nutshell: to enhance meritocracy.
Contracts and projects should be supervised by the government and foreign bodies to ensure that they are given to those who are capable and not on favoritisms, nepotism or some other selfish interest. The government, in cases of qualifications and employment, should make appointments. A board or an association should be created if this is to succeed.
All in all, the youth of today have seen hard times and if all the above points are followed, the welfare of the youth will be improved. Since the youth of today are the future leaders of tomorrow it will be wise not to think only of the development of the youth but also of the empowerment of the youth in order to ensure good leadership for tomorrow. AMEN
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