Caught between Scylla and Charybdis: Youth education vis a vis employment in Zimbabwe
Scylla and Charybdis were mythical sea monsters. Later Greek tradition sited them on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and the Italian mainland. Scylla was rationalized as a rock shoal (described as a six-headed sea monster) on the Italian side of the strait and Charybdis was a whirlpool off the coast of Sicily. They were regarded as a sea hazard located close enough to each other that they posed an inescapable threat to passing sailors; avoiding Charybdis meant passing too close to Scylla and vice versa. A perfect metaphor for the situation in Zimbabwe pertaining education and employment when youths call for “Building a Better World: Partnering with Youth.” Our education is not in tandem with the employment opportunities and neither does it provide a basis of formulating self-employment. It is a challenge that young people can hardly deny the current education curricular which is almost irrelevant to our s...