Opening new avenues for youth
According to Labour and
Labour Relations Minister Gamini Lokuge the country's
unemployment figure has dropped significantly during the past
five years. He told Parliament responding to a question raised
by Sajith Premadasa MP that the Government has implemented an
employment creation and employment promotion program, a rural
employment project to promote self employment and a
micro-finance program islandwide to minimise unemployment.
The Government has allocated as much as Rs five billion under
the present budget to direct youth towards various jobs. It has
also arranged for graduate placement programs in banks and
several other State institutions. All this is an indication of
the emphasis laid towards employment generation. This is because
unemployment more often than not has been the cause for
rebellion as experienced in the past. It drives youth to
frustration when they perceive that they are left out of the
bounties of development. No amount of success in the development
sphere would be worth it without a contended youth population.
When President Jayewardene fought his 1977 election campaign his
main slogan was 'employment first, employment second, employment
third'. He took advantage of the rampant unemployment during the
United Front Government, which was also the chief cause for the
first uprising of the JVP in 1971.
According to the Workforce Survey Report 2010 the
unemployment rate is 5.1 percent. This is leaving out the
Northern Province. Unemployment was also one of the reasons for
the Northern rebellion. It was neglected for long in terms of
infrastructure development and was virtually starved of
employment opportunities leading to frustration of educated
youth who had no alternative but to join the separatist
movement. No doubt unemployment became a volatile issue. Now
with the development juggernaut rolling in the North these youth
who are in the thick of these activities will be able to secure
for them a better future.
The Government should also turn its attention to the issue of
youth employability when devising its employment programs. Today
many graduates passing out of Universities are unemployable due
to the wrong educational policies that are out of step with the
present day. This matter has been debated ad-nausem to warrant
repetition. Suffice it to say that drastic policy reversal in
the higher education sphere is a sine qua non in the country's
present context requiring highly skilled personal in the
technical and allied fields.
Today each year a large army of youth enter the employment
market. They have to be found jobs and not any job at that. The
youth of today want to be gainfully employed. It is upto the
Government to provide avenues that would cater to their demands.
Finding employment opportunities is the responsibility and
obligation of any Government. But it is not the Government's job
to find employment to the country's youth. All these years what
we have seen under successive Governments is a patronage system
of providing jobs on the basis of political affiliations. At
each election the youth are promised jobs and once elected to
power the Government's fail to redeem this pledge. Promising
jobs should not be part and parcel of election promises that
raise false expectations of the youth. What should be spelled
out is the concrete steps that would be taken to address the
unemployment issue.
There is no Government in the world which considers it as its
prime obligation to secure jobs to its citizens. It can only
create the necessary background and opportunities for this. It
is up to the rest to make good these opportunities. Today these
opportunities are being provided in large measure in Sri Lanka
particularly in the country's post war rebuilding and
reconstruction.
There are also plenty of opportunities in the informal sector
as a spin off from gigantic projects. The Government, therefore,
should equip and condition these youth to avail themselves of
these employment opportunities. They should be guided with the
proper skills training and education. That much is it is obliged
to do. What the youth make out of these opportunities is
entirely upto them. They cannot blame Governments perennially
for not providing them with jobs.
It is also time to do away with the patronage system that has
been the bane of the public sector leading to its collapse
through inefficiency and lethargy. Recruitment should be done
strictly on merit. There is an urgent need to put to an end this
politicisation of the public sector if the Government is to
achieve its set targets in its development drive. |