Unleashing the Youth

Unleashing the Youth

"This world demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of
mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of
courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the life of ease." Robert Kennedy
If we go with the definition of United Nation, it defines youth as persons
between the ages of 15 and 24. As per the statistics provided by UNESCO, at
the beginning of 2012, the world population surpassed 7 billion with people
under the age of 30 accounting for more than half of this number (50.5%). In
Asia today, there are more than 1.1 billion youth aged 10 to 24, representing
26 percent of the total population. According to 2001 census of Nepal,
population of age group between 15-24 years is 4, 405,770 which makes
more than 19% of total population. So if we consider youth as a time of life,
as mentioned by Robert Kennedy, than number of youths is big. So with such
a big number, the largest generation of youth in history, they carry burden of
sustaining the dramatic socioeconomic growth
With such a big responsibility there is a big challenges that need to be
tackled. Millions of young people worldwide demand better education and job
opportunities. Many of youth lacks education, employment or training.
Among those who have education qualification also, their achievement is
low. They are deprived by a lack of prospects and frustrated by a seemingly
uncaring system. 180 million youth in Asia are living in extreme poverty. So
youth, despite having great potential for socioeconomic development, are
potentially at risk.
With such a grave condition of youth worldwide how can the full potential of
youth be unleashed? In its report Unleashing Youth in Asia, McKinsey Center
for Government has recommended Triple-Es to unleash full potential of
youth. These triple Es are education, employment and engagement. A
worldwide survey seeking to identify the most important global development
priorities, a good education and better job opportunities rank among the top
five priorities for people age 16 to 31, along with basic human needs such as
better healthcare, an honest and responsive government, and protection
against crime and violence.
Education:
Education is important factor for unleashing the youth potential. Nepal has
shown significant improvement in literacy. Youth (aged between 15 and 24)
literacy rate at 30.04% in 1981 and in 29 years it have rose to 83.12% in
2010. But of the children currently enrolled in primary school today, only few
percent are expected to reach basic standards of literacy and numeracy by

Unleashing the Youth

the end of primary school. Equity in education also remains an issue,

with
girls, ethnic minorities and children from poor families being much less likely
to complete schooling, or perform well at school.
Education is the best tool to bring a positive change in society and to
develop a generation of responsible individuals. Education serves as the
means to develop oneself physically, mentally and socially.
Education does not merely mean university degrees. The fundamental
purpose of education is to gain knowledge, understand the forms of proper
conduct and acquire technical competency in specific subjects. Youth should
be trained and developed in their field of interest. It would help the youths
define their career objectives, decide what they want from life and enable
them to achieve what they wish to. Just PhDs and university degrees would
not be enough to unleash youth potential. They need proper guidance and
relevant education.
The fact that the types job are rapidly changing is a major challenge for
education for unleashing youth. The increasing use of smart machines will
increase our reliance on such machines in our day-to-day lives apart from
replacing human workers in rote tasks. A study has shown 65 percent of
primary school students today will be employed in jobs that do not currently
exist. Thus preparing todays youth for the future equipping them with 21st
century skills, such as inter- and multi-disciplinary thinking, creativity, critical
thinking, resilience and cross-cultural competencies.
Employment:
Currently the world is facing a worsening youth employment crisis with
young people three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and
almost 73 million youth worldwide are looking for work. But the world is
bursting with opportunity.
Ironically, despite such an employment crisis, businesses suffer from a
critical shortage of skilled manpower. The McKinsey Global Institute
estimates that there will be a global shortage of 38 to 40 million highly
skilled workers. Similarly, one billion workers without secondary education
are expected to be part of the labor force by 2020, increasing pressure on
governments and educational institutions to provide training in relevant
skills.
Apart from employment opportunity, rapidly changing world characterized by
increasing longevity, hi-tech systems, larger and more integrated
organizations, and global interconnectedness is also an issue for
employment opportunity of youth. All of these require new skill-sets, which
traditional education does not provide. So many employers have already

Unleashing the Youth

stepped up to the challenge and are training youth in these much-needed

skills.
While there is a general consensus on the need to build workforce skills that
support economic development and long-term structural change, but the
questions is what skills will be required for the jobs of the future, and how to
ensure that individuals are trained in these skills.
Engagement:
Other factor important for unleashing youth potential is engagement of
youth. Youth should be able to express their views on issues that affect them,
take part and have decision-making power over those issues. Coupled with
rising inequality, it is perhaps unsurprising that a recent global survey found
that Asian youth are less likely to believe they can make a difference.
The current generation is rebellious as compared to previous one. They seek
autonomy and self-expression. They have less trust on government
institutions, politicians, media etc. So given such a change in opinion in
generations, new modes and ways of understanding youth engagement are
required. Youth can be engaged in several ways like involvement in political
parties, activism, and volunteerism.
Given limited opportunity for jobs, youth entrepreneurship should be
focused. The World Bank research shows 70 percent of jobs are created by
small and medium enterprises. Building greater entrepreneurship among
youth is critical. In order to achieve this youth should be encouraged for
entrepreneurship and address various hurdles, like access to capital, lack of
business and management skills, and lack of mentorship support to make
their task easy. Government and other private institutions are working in this
direction. Like government is providing soft loans to youth to start their
enterprise. Also there are few business incubators started by large business
house to promote, support and finance ideas developed by youth and turn it
to entrepreneurship.
Thus, there are several problems that exists for unleashing youth potentials.
But this issue can be addressed through cross sectorial collaboration. Policy
makers, academic institutions, the business community and other
stakeholders need to work together to prepare young people for a globally
competitive and dynamic world.
Youth are the future of the nations and the world. Todays youth stands at the
threshold of yet another great global transformation. Addressing issues
around the Triple-Es of youth education, employment and engagement,
will require collective action on the part of all stakeholders across the public,
social and private sectors. By policy makers, educational institutions and the

Unleashing the Youth

business sector working together, they have the power to unleash youth
potential and promote sustainable growth.