ON THE DAY each of one of us were born, we began our life on Earth with the most elementary strengths and abilities. Some of us were smaller, some bigger. Some were louder. Some were difficult to soothe while others were sweet and forever smiling.
Then as we eventually encountered the world out there, some of us were blessed with attention and affection, or enough to survive but not to thrive.
Indeed, what the child gets depends on the parents, community, national and provincial government and the number of positive factors that help to form the child to become an all-rounded human being.
As we celebrate Youth Month and commemorate 39 years since the 1976 Soweto uprising, there is no doubt that the youth of 1976 should serve as an inspiration for all of us to be active agents of positive change, not only here at home but globally.
Beyond the classroom
There is no doubt that if our children are to develop into successful students, effective leaders, productive workers and involved citizens, they need education that extends beyond the classroom and fosters new skills, fuels self-confidence and encourages a sense of citizenship.
The US-based Search Institute has identified up to 40 developmental assets that help young people become the most capable and complete people that they can be.
According to the institute, internal assets are the strengths and skills that are nurtured and developed within everyone.
External assets are instilled by the people in the community and family, including, “empowerment, boundaries and expectations and constructive use of time”.
Just to look at a few of the assets as researched and coined by the Search Institute for the purposes of Youth Month:
Asset number one refers to “family life which provides high levels of love and support” which takes this responsibility as our own. We work to keep families intact through good jobs, affordable child care, and access to health care and education.
Asset number three describes “support from non-parent adults”. This we provide through caring relatives, teachers, coaches and mentors – those who choose to play a positive role in the lives of our children.
Jumping to asset number seven, which refers to empowerment that results when the “young person perceives that the adults in the community value youth”.
Asset number 14:“Parent(s) and other adults model positive, responsible behaviour. Then there’s asset number 16: “Both parent(s) and teachers encourage the young person to do well.”
I would extend this to include mentors, coaches and neighbours. They provide visible examples of fairness, sharing and excitement about learning.
Of course there is always a debate when it comes to developing our youth. Some parents often wait for schools to do the job. On the other hand, schools appear to want the business community to do it through business programmes. Business owners seem to want anyone, even the government, to undertake the task. The government, in turn, suggests that parents do a better job. And so the cycle continues.
The truth is that it’s everyone’s job! To collectively form the next generation of voters, service providers and leaders, we at the Gauteng provincial government are committed to asset number seven – youth empowerment.
As the provincial government, our job is to turn hopes for our children’s prosperity into action. We do so by helping youth prioritise activities, set goals, learn to seek win-win solutions to problems and persist in the face of temporary frustrations to help build resilience in the workplace.
In Gauteng, most of our schools incorporate real-world exercises and resources into respective curriculums. After all, success in the workplace is a major indicator of a successful education.
Taking action
If there was ever a time to ensure options for today’s youth, it is now, when the demands are so clearly evident. In our province we have a variety of programmes that help foster lifelong development and encourage success and hard work.
In January our national government launched the Draft National Youth Policy 2020 as part of the ongoing consultations with various youth formations and to create opportunities for our young people.
This is to encourage young people to own the policy formulation process and to show that our youth are our future leaders.
In a drive towards addressing this particular challenge we have instituted the Gauteng youth employment strategy, within which we have developed township enterprise hubs as an avenue for job creation. The enterprise hubs are operated by youth co-operatives and supported by a management company that runs the back-office services to ensure success and sustainability of the core business.
The Gauteng youth placement focuses on and targets the employment of youths aged 18-24 as the single biggest age group of the unemployed youth in the province.
In addition, there is the graduate entrepreneurship development programme, better known as Y-Age, with the aim of recruiting 125 000 young people in Gauteng to be trained, mentored, funded and assisted to run their own businesses.
We have established a range of support programmes and strategies to empower youth in the various sectors:
n The Mzansi Golden Economy strategy has a number of high impact programmes targeting youth and women in the arts.
n The Indoni, My Heritage, My Pride programme aims to provide young people with life skills training, education and encouragement in appreciating who they are, their heritage and their culture.
n The Trendsetter initiative through which the department encourages youth to participate in the arts and thus contribute to the development of their communities.
n The Public Art programme teaches skills young people and employs them to beautify their communities.
n The Emerging Creatives programmes provides an opportunity for 40 young designers to showcase their designs along side established designers at the Design Indaba in Cape Town.
n The Expanded Public Works Programme sees young people involved in the refurbishment, rehabilitation, and maintenance of community infrastructure.
In addition there are youth centres which provide tutoring, job training, recreational and sports programmes.
Out of trouble
The Gauteng Department of Education recognises that youth programmes help keep our young people safe and out of trouble during their formative years.
Our provincial government’s increased support for youth programmes provides a strong message to schools, municipal governments, businesses, and other funding sources that our government values the development of our future leaders.
Youth are key resources, both for enhancing the quality of community life today and for building strong communities for the future.
We are committed to developing activities that give young people the knowledge, skills and attitudes they want and need to be healthy, contributing members of the community. It is a special joy to watch young people run with these opportunities and make them their own.
Panyaza Lesufi is Gauteng MEC for Education.