The youth: Our future

The International Youth Day was on 12 August and we must recognize a hard truth: it's not an easy time to be a young person. 

COVID-19 stopped the world in its tracks. The climate crisis continues to progress ever more rapidly. The invasion of Ukraine threw the global economy into greater turmoil as jobs become ever more scarce and precarious. Understandably, young people are deeply concerned about the state of the world: a recent global survey shows that they are seeking real, sustained change. 

But they’re not just watching from the side lines. Young people are taking initiative through social movements and activism – with extraordinary results! Just consider the impact of the youth-led global climate movement calling for radical change. 

Today’s youth are also making their mark on the fight against corruption. The youth deserve an end to corruption. Young people are not just our future. They are key to creating a just, peaceful and prosperous world just now. Remember: 37 million youth were involved in the May 9 elections!

Taking the ‘smell’ of the youth spirit into consideration, we will have to look at some numbers:

The DepEd targets 28.6 million enrollees this school year. The high school students are    dreaming already about the next steps: college or employment. We in business have to catch those heading for employment.

Education must intensify and broaden the need to educate all its people. No longer will it suffice to educate a tiny elite that will then manage and direct the politics, the economy, and the culture of the many. Sara Duterte will be busy!!!

Development will require not only a corps of highly skilled individuals capable of absorbing advance technology; it will also require a minimum of scientific literacy and technological skill; it will also need the setting of professional standards, the delineation of fields of expertise, and the organization of communities of knowledge. Education can no longer afford to leave anybody behind. All young people – whether they go to college or not – will need a similar set of core competencies if they are to succeed in today’s labor market. Government, the private sector and civil society have to work closely together to Safe the Children. We must realize that 40% of the Philippine population is in school!

If the Philippines is to survive in the ever-changing, fast moving, technology-driven world taking shape before our eyes, the country has to position itself strategically in this new economy. The end-effort must be to secure the Philippines’s place on the right side of the digital divide the revolutions in communications, information, and computer technologies are creating. This requires a work-class workforce, something that the ICT, BPO and creative industries have been asking for. And because knowledge has become the modern economy’s central resource, we must keep in mind continuous learning has become essential. So swift is the generation and transmission of knowledge that learning has become a life-long process for every one of us.

The investment in human development is a strategy for economic recovery and inclusive growth. The private sector would love to cooperate with VP and Education Secretary Sara Duterte to specifically focus on technical training and ‘learning by doing’.

In conclusion, let me repeat – again – the wise words of Ramon del Rosario, Chairman of Philippine Business for Education: “It’s the private sector that is creating the jobs. But government has to create an enabling environment for the jobs to be created!”

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