Making education youth-friendly

It is puzzling how Africa continues to develop educational policies without implementing them.

There are several policies that, when implemented on the ground, would improve our educational quality, hence reducing unemployment.

The issue is that policies are developed by people who do not teach in classrooms and have little experience with how things work on the ground.

There will be a positive shift if only educators are involved.

Our continent’s education system is deplorable. Students are praised for excelling in examinations, but not encouraged to develop their employability skills.

What does that reflect about us? In school, the curriculum focuses primarily on extrinsic motivation. This means learners perform because they merely want to impress, be rewarded or satisfy someone other than themselves.

For instance, in Ghana, best students in various subjects are awarded during speech and prize-giving day. In Malawi, students are praised for their theoretical achievements other than practical projects.

Eventually, these students may not foster creativity or high levels of innovation. Educators need to focus on cultivating intrinsic motivation, an inner drive that the learner wants to explore all the possibilities by himself or herself; to be adventurous and successful. The learners have the potential to become entrepreneurs and job creators, but it is buried by existing educational policies.

Just like that, our education system makes our learners think like lifetime employees. We tend to focus on paper qualifications, not skills likely to contribute to the economy.

Here, the educational system is structured in a way that makes Africa’s youthful majority not to think outside the box.

We study courses not in line with our interests. We do not learn any special skills in school. There are no classes on emotional intelligence, stress management, investment and retirement plans, internships, entrepreneurship or self-discovery.

There are no educational counsellors to guide our decisions and little knowledge of work-life balance or networking.

And this is where the unemployment growth among the youth begins. The scarcity of job opportunities for potential youthful minds completing school could either be a result of limited job vacancies, the presence of artificial intelligence playing that role, the years of working experience required, age and gender criteria.

This also happens when ratio of youth that are ready for the market exceeds the job opportunities in the market and salaries offered.

These factors leave many African youthful minds unemployed, leading to increased social vices and corruption.

There is really a need to move from regurgitation to application system.

With this poor system, the yardsticks are way too low since there is little focus on life skills and classroom discipline.

This in return promotes obsession with academic qualifications, not skills. Therefore, students learn to obtain theoretical qualifications, leaving many graduating into unemployable citizens.

Given the evidence of a high unemployment rate among the youth in Africa, it is safe to conclude that there is a negative relationship between the continent’s education system and unemployment rates. The education system and policies are failing to create the right relationships, affecting millions of young Africans.

To a considerable measure, the educational system does not fit our environment. It has a significant gap that must be addressed as quickly as possible before matters worsen.

We may adapt it to our environment by including foundation skills, or fundamental reading and numeracy abilities taught in elementary school, allowing people to get jobs that pay enough to meet their basic needs.

These abilities are essential for more training and skill development, without which the prospects of finding a meaningful work or engaging in entrepreneurial activities are slim.

Analysis, communication, problem-solving, creativity, and leadership are all transferable skills once can use or apply to various circumstances.

Staying in school, as well as internships or work-based programmes, helps build these skills.

Apprenticeships and work-placement programmes also aid in the acquisition of technical and vocational skills in areas such as agriculture, computers, and construction.