Second Chance Opportunities for Youth
Let's take a minute, set aside all the political rhetoric at play and consider the fact that many young South Africans do not have a national senior certificate. Last year, 532 860 full time candidates registered to write their National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations and 128 986 failed. Many of these young people will never again find their way back into the education system without some kind of support. It is precisely because of this that the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has prioritised second chance opportunities for youth.
Education is the cornerstone of youth employment and ensuring that young people are educated and skilled is of prime concern for the state and society in general. The NYDA has partnered with the ETDP Seta to rollout a second chance matric rewrite programme for those who deserve another chance to obtain their National Senior Certificate. The annual Second Chance Matric Rewrite Programme enables those who have failed their National Senior Certificate exams, the opportunity to re-enrol, receive free tuition and then rewrite their exams with the necessary preparation and support.
The response to the 2015 Second Chance Programme has been overwhelming, so much so that the deadline for applications had to be extended to the 6 March 2015. This leeway has been granted to allow for the targeted numbers to be appropriately spread out amongst the relevant districts nationally. In Gauteng for example, the provincial target for the 2015 intake is 290 learners however a total of 511 young people applied.
In KwaZulu Natal, the provincial target is 620 learners, 630 applied in Durban alone while only 27 applications were received in Uthungulu. While this is a learning curve to creatively focus our information sharing and marketing campaigns away from major cities, it shows the growing demand for such products and services. Youth are hungry for second chance opportunities.
Young people understand the fundamental importance of education and skills development. The fact that hundreds of matrics who passed their NSC exams are appealing for an opportunity to join the Second Chance Programme in order to improve their marks is an illustration of this hunger for education displayed by South African youth.
Likewise thousands of applications were received for the NYDA Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund. Unfortunately, the NYDA's budget only allows for 150 scholarships to be awarded for 2015. Young people understand that without education and skills, they cannot begin to pursue employment nor can they really explore entrepreneurship as a viable career option. The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) also recognises the need to equip young people with practical knowledge and expertise that is why they have set aside over R1 billion in funding to train artisans. In fact, DHET has undertaken to equip 19 000 artisans with skills by the 31 March 2015.
According to Statistics South Africa, young people constitute 41,2% of the country's population while the South African Labour Force Survey for June 2014, indicates that 36,1% of young people are unemployed. No silver bullet approach in the form of a youth wage subsidy will make a scratch on this picture let alone a dent.
No company will hire a young person who does not possess the requisite qualifications, skills or experience. What we need is a multi-pronged approach to youth development and the National Youth Policy for 2015-2019, currently in draft phase, represents just that. For those who question the impact of the New National Youth Policy, the NYDA's Second Chance Programme is but one initiative that was in fact endorsed for mass implementation by this policy framework.
Through the up-scaling of such second chance programmes young South Africans will be integrated back into the education system to ensure they receive a second chance at being adequately qualified before entering the job market. Research suggests that 38% of those with matric as their highest qualification are unemployed while 54% of those with an education level less than matric are unemployed. Thus the higher your qualification the less likely you are to be unemployed.
We can only salute the Minister of Finance for acknowledging the importance of education and skills development by increasing the education budget to R265.7 billion in his recent budget speech. More resources need to be allocated to education and skills development as opposed to a youth wage subsidy. This combined with the intensification of efforts at entrepreneurship education in schools will create a generation of job creators and not simply job seekers. We must do what we can to keep youth in the education system and second chance programmes strive to do just that.
Yershen Pillay is NYDA Executive Chairperson
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
