By Mike Mukula, Daily Monitor
The African continent is day by day sliding into unemployment and poverty, especially of the youth. If leaders do not make long-term strategic plans, Africa will certainly be plunged into another cycle of subjugation and violence. The high fertility rate among our females and population growth in most countries, speaks volumes! This is because 50 per cent of people in most countries are below the age of 30. The spiralling rate of urbanisation exacerbates this threat. And yet, the said rate is not in consonance with job-creation!
Worth pondering is also the fact that the number of youth dropping out of school is increasing. Reasons range from poor societal norms, especially in the countryside, to non-affordability of tuition fees and requisite scholastic materials, especially for the boys. Girls drop out mainly due to puberty-related stress factors, being forced into early marriage, being defiled by errant teachers or relatives, or getting unwanted pregnancies.
Why is Africa likely to suffer severe unemployment and related repercussions? In my view, one of the root causes is education. Lamentably, most African countries have never changed colonial-time curricula! While other countries, especially in the northern hemisphere, have been moving in tandem with the times - technology and job market imperatives - we in Africa have not.
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Capt. Mukula is chairman of the Pan-African Movement, Uganda Chapter
captmukula@yahoo.co.uk
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