That more than 700 youths fly abroad daily in search of employment is quite disturbing. It is shameful that we have been losing this productive workforce in such a scale on a regular basis and the nation is doing nothing more than reliving a perennial squabble of power to employ and accommodate unprincipled and outdated leaders of political parties who can neither inspire the people nor lead the nation successfully.
Such a gloomy scenario could be changed through a livelihood education program. The government should target unemployed youths, including youth from the weakest sections of society such as the Dalit, underprivileged and excluded communities, provide them with appropriate vocational training and thereby enhance their capacities and skills, which would enable them to find jobs. It is also necessary that the establishment does not only train youths, but also makes efforts in building strategic linkages with the existing market/business leaders and opportunities to ensure their employment.
Such initiatives should focus on reaching out to those who are below the poverty line and enable them to dignified livelihood thereby bringing in quality change in their daily lives. Further, such interventions should also build capacities of those who would like to become entrepreneurs. Livelihood education needs can be addressed through vocational training programs.
An Employability Potential Assessment (EPA) can be the best tool before venturing out to determine the trades with high employability chances and placement opportunities. This would ensure clarity on the demand side of training of trades which can be tailor-made to suit them rather than imposing the same from the supply side, as has always been the case with our ineffective vocational training rituals. Training youths on a quantitative short term basis (eg for three months) with an additional one month on-the-job training to enable them enter local job market and be a part of the new economy inculcating a sense of confidence and inspiration to advance in life, would be the best course to follow.
Promoting, replicating and collaborating with such vocational training programs is primarily the responsibility of the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) which has been overseeing the area of technical education and vocational training in the country. Similarly, the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) can underscore its poverty reduction program by lending certain amount for sustenance during the training period to youths, who hail from very poor families and who are the sole bread earners of their families.
More than 700 youths fly abroad daily in search of employment. It is shameful that we have been losing this productive workforce on such a scale. This could be changed through a livelihood education program.
For example, the UN mission in Nepal is said to have availed around NRs 20,000 to every disqualified Maoist combatant either for vocational training package or for educational stipend under its resettlement and integration plan. No concrete plans seem to have been devised to ensure their placement after the completion of their training. Neither does the Nepal mission of the world body seem to have any concrete plans should the former combatants dropout or not get any jobs in the market in the aftermath of the training. This gives the impression that risk analysis has not been carried out before taking this decision.
The fallout of this could be the unwillingness on the part of private sectors and employers to employ such rebels outright. Rather than investing so lavishly on fragmented individuals, it would have been better had the money been used for establishing low cost or cost effective training centers through non-state actors along with establishment of production industries or factories requiring low budget. The passed out trainees could well be absorbed and employed in them making it much easier and more practical.
Even more surprising is the government decision to work as facilitator in seeking employment abroad for the trainees rather than creating opportunities in the native land itself. How long can a nation afford to depart from its most productive workforce and manpower and still make claims to its commitment to economic development and prosperity?
It would be better to train youths with soft skills for their subsistence and retain them. The proposed Youth Self Employment Program (if implemented at all!) of the government is best linked with the short-term vocational trainings of youths who do not mind joining the entry level jobs in the market.
We must bear one thing in mind that such young workers from the marginalized communities are less likely to object to sub-standard working conditions in the service industry for several reasons as they do not hail from formal education system. In such circumstances, even dissatisfaction is not likely to help them to change jobs. As a more vulnerable group of workers, these people are less likely to band together to demand better wages and working conditions until and unless political interest groups and trade unions do not interfere.
An increasing number of young people from such training programs would find work in the informal economy, where jobs are usually characterized by insecurity and poor wages and working conditions. So, labor laws have to be formulated toward retaining this productive labor force not evicting them from the country.
The government can establish incentive structures that tend to promote employment-intensive growth by directing investment to sectors that are more likely to generate employment opportunities. For example, labor-intensive manufacturing industries, including garments and textiles, electronics, leather products and food processing can provide a key source of employment opportunities.
High level of unemployment among youths is always a source of concern because it affects them negatively. Psychosocial studies of young people show that unemployment leads to a reduction in self-esteem, diminished levels of well being, and frequently isolation from peers. And this isolation gives birth to unanticipated violent activities which are deftly manipulated for political unrest. This is the reason why thousands of youth marched on the streets of Kathmandu for almost a week acting upon the call of a political party to press for resignation of the sitting prime minister.
Marginalization and exclusion have to be taken as complementary issues among youths. As Minna Heikkinen notes, “Young people’s social exclusion is always loaded with numerous economic, social, political and cultural connotations and dimensions”. Long-term unemployment may in some circumstances lead to social exclusion, but high levels of social or financial support may reduce the chances of exclusion.
(Writer is involved in educational research with Aide et Action International Nepal.)
baburamnyaupane@yahoo.com
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