Young Africans, "ill-prepared" to enter the job market as education worsens - Report
Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - The quality of education and training provided by African countries has worsened since 2014, leaving many of the continent’s growing population of young people ill-prepared to enter the job market, an influential report made available on Monday to PANA in Kigali said.
The Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG), the most comprehensive survey of its kind on the continent, found that on average enrolment and access to education was particularly low in the tertiary sector.
According to the African Governance Report, released by Mo Ibrahim Foundation, some challenges for most African countries is the continuous decline of the socio-economic integration of youth which is a key element in the 2063 Agenda of the African Union (AU)
The other is the growing prevalence of human trafficking on the continent which is one of the areas where governance on the continent
seems to fail the most, the report said.
The Agenda 2063 Goal 18 includes several targets related to the creation of socio-economic opportunities for young people.
Considering that around 60% of Africa’s population is under the age of 25 in 2019, the socio-economic integration of youth is crucial for the future of the continent, it said.
According to official statistics, Africa has the youngest population in the world with more than 400 million young people aged between the ages of 15 to 35 years.
To address these gaps, the AU has developed several youth development policies and programmes at continental level aimed at ensuring the continent benefits from its demographic dividend.
These include mainly the Youth Decade Plan of Action which is focusing on key priority areas namely education and skills development and
youth employment and entrepreneurship.
Meanwhile, the African Governance Report 2019 states that quality of education in many African countries needs to be addressed, aligning education with market needs.
This quality can also be advanced if governments and partners take a closer look at prioritising active engagement with the private sector, to assess the requirements of the job market, the report said.
-0- PANA TWA/VAO 21Oct2019
