EDITORIAL – Youth need our help
On the last day of the Democratic Labour Party’s Annual Conference, during her address to party faithfuls, re-elected President Verla DePeiza raised concern that our education system does not properly prepare young persons for the world of work. Ms. DePeiza singled out the university system in particular, arguing not only that university education must be made relevant to the world of business, but lamenting that too often the university seems to be more like a “production mill”, churning out students who are ill-prepared for the world of work.
Ms. DePeiza hit the nail on the head, and sadly this is not a new issue, but one that has been plaguing our society for some time. She is certainly not the first to have raised this issue and possibly she will not be the last, because it is not a matter that can be solved overnight.
Without doing an in depth analysis of the situation, it would appear that even though our education system affords our people free education from the primary to tertiary level, the system appears to have fallen short at giving those students the life and professional skills that are required when they become gainfully employed. However to address the problem, we must acknowledge that it is not the fault of the administrators of the system alone. Some blame must be placed also at the feet of those who are responsible for ensuring that the system is keeping pace with the changing times.
In this respect, we are not only talking about how young people behave in the workplace, which too often leaves a lot to be desired, as many, even though they have several certificates and or degrees, often lack the understanding of when and where certain things should and should not be done, and they lack business writing and customer service skills. They are educated, but education is definitely not the same as job training, and it is that training persons need for the workplace.
It can be argued that there is somewhat of a disconnect between the expectations of the university and those of the workplace and if this is true, there needs to be a meeting of minds to bridge that gap. It can be argued too that with the many changes occurring in the work environment, even now with the COVID-19 pandemic, that the onus is on the university to adjust to suit. For a country like Barbados and a region as interdependent as the Caribbean, our secondary and higher education institutions should be working in collaboration with our governments and private sectors, to see what areas they should be providing instruction in, relative to the industries and sectors that are being developed, and ensure that persons are not only accessing academic tutoring, but hands on practical training wherever possible.
This will no doubt require that the educational institutions partner with the private sector and even the public sector to offer internship programmes. One could go as far as to suggest that such internships should be mandatory, as they could allow employers to have a hand in straightening out some of the issues that they are seeing on a daily basis when it comes to those fresh out of secondary school or university.
On coming to office the current administration spoke of a national programme to provide the youth with work experience, to help make them more marketable to employers. That idea was welcomed, as it was recognised that such was needed. The goal was to target 3 500 young people, including school leavers and unattached youth, but little has been heard of it since the first cohort completed their training. This is no doubt because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we certainly hope that the programme is continuing or will be continued, even if it is being carried out online, and would hope that the Government provides an update soon.