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 situation. Unlike China and Japan whose education curricular support
ones dream from the onset of the education ours provide a closed bases where
one should likely look for employment after
a probable 17 year characterised by 7 years in primary, 6 years in high
school and 4 years in tertiary
education. The education needs a complete new design to support the current
trend that feeds the informal sector.
Employment
offers on less than 6% for the entire nation. We are witnessing the bulk of graduates
from tertiary institutions becoming employed to LOOKING FOR A JOB that will
never materialise. As if that’s not all the government, the prime employer has frizzed
recruiting till God knows when. Yet the education curricular presumes one
should be employed.
Thus young
people are caught between Scylla and Charybdis as they cannot forgo to be
educated towards no hope for employment. It’s a terrible situation for one to
invest in something that has no prospects but actually have no choice but to
invest and lose.
When we
articulate on Building a Better World: Partnering with Youth, the education
curricular should be in line with moulding young people to be innovative and
start their own line of business and employ other young people. There is need
to bring young people to the drawing table and map a feasible way forward
towards the ultimate emancipation of young people in Zimbabwe. The government
should support young graduates through voluntary programmes that will not let
see skilled personnel becoming null over time.
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