Opinion Sur
A critical area of Latin American reality is the millions of young people who do not study or work. Solving this problem is crucial for the country we aspire to have in the near future.One of the great axes of the social situation in Latin America undoubtedly consists of the very strong tragedy millions of young people –ages 16 to 24, that do not study or work- undergo at present. Solving this issue is crucial in order to understand the countries we aspire to have in the coming years.
Here seems to lie one of the most complex challenges. When we talk about youth who do not study or work we are referring to young people who do not do anything at all, or who go in and out of work or school too frequently, that is, who do not manage to remain in the work or educational system.
In a great part of Latin America the open rate of unemployment is larger for ages 15 to 19 and decreases as the population age increases. Young women are in a situation of even greater disadvantage than young men, with unemployment rates of about 23 per cent when they are between 15 and 19 years old and of 17 per cent when they are between 20 and 24.
The youth’s problem does not have to do with learning a task but with persisting in the job. The problem of poor young children is not to understand what needs to be done at work but to go to work every day for eight hours in a scheme where many have not seen their father or grandfather do so.
This problem intersects with addictions and overcrowding. The cycle in great urban centres is as follows: a young man who is crammed at home goes to the street in search of more room and better conditions. On the corner he starts consuming drugs because everyone does so and hence begins to be indebted. The overcrowding, addiction, and indebtedness cycle is completed by the later stigmatization of society at large, which makes that young man responsible for insecurity. The high percentage of adolescent pregnancy -which reproduces this scheme and complicates things once again- should be added.
It is necessary to implement a great social agreement and a massive plan focusing on youth inclusion that, besides practising what is being already carried out in our countries through scholarship and economic support programs, also incorporate a network of tutors who are reliable for the youth.
Young people only believe in those they see on a daily basis; they do not respect institutions as they do specific people: for instance, a teacher who is nice, a guy whom he or she has met on the corner, a neighbourhood referent, or the club’s technician. This is about boosting a network of tutors the youth feel will not fail them and who may help them maintain their school or work task. Here the role played by social organizations (which have earned legitimacy among the kids by their work in the neighbourhoods) is essential.
Likewise, a reform of the educational system reviewing the goals of secondary school and undergraduate level and aligning them with strategic productive sectors is necessary.
Some flexibility within the system would enable to incorporate youth who are nowadays outside the educational scheme. If a 15 year old young man goes back to school and has classmates who are 11 years old, the situation becomes impracticable/un-feasible in the classroom (both for the kids and the docent) and necessarily ends up in a new abandonment.
AcknowledgIng previous learning and giving opportunities that can be more tailored to each one’s reality for each one to finish secondary school seems to be fundamental for young people to have more chances in the work market. In the last years some progress has been made in technical schools; the challenge now seems to lie in how to adapt secondary school without losing the academic level while emphasizing the possibility of building specific programs tailored to the different realities.
The international scenario still provides a favourable context for the region’s economy. Great emerging markets will remain requiring goods our countries produce. This tail wind furnishes us with the possibility of really turning Latin America’s social reality upside down. Such challenge requires everybody’s commitment.
