Young people are the asset of a nation. They are the next generation of adults. Every nation has its challenges in providing a good and productive lifestyle for their young men and women. As we know there are economic dilemmas that impact every country down the line, a classic example being the Yellow Jacket protestors in France, who attracted worldwide media attention recently.
Sri Lanka has her own challenges of unemployment and the ever continuing unresolved crisis of unemployed graduates. But there is another dormant issue which has not been given due priority, and that is the problem of underemployment.
This phenomenon is defined as underuse of a worker due to a job that does not use the workers skills or keeps them idle. One of the greatest setbacks in the Sri Lankan workforce for decades is not having systematic certified skills. Only in the past decade agencies like NAITA and other vocational bodies have begun proper NVQ certified vocational courses, some accredited to the City and Guilds exams.
These agencies follow a good syllabus and produce good students. Over the last 30 years or even before we as a nation have shown all sorts of labour statistics, but the lifestyle of the people, especially the rural youth is an indicator that reveals another side of reality.
Having travelled around the island on numerous assignments I have encountered and spoken to young people - Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims who all feel that life has been unfair to them, in turns of pragmatic English induced education and the chances of studying an employable skill. None of these youth have ever sat at a computer, although they now use smart phones. These Sri Lankans are aged 18-25 years. I have met young men selling king coconuts, waiting idly until a vehicle stops. I have witnessed young girls selling fruits on roadside makeshift stands, enduring the heat of the sun and the sarcasm of “Colombo people” who pass by. I have spoken to Tamil girls in the hill country who sell boiled gram and vadai, near wine stores after 7pm. These poor youth have to patiently oblige the predatory eyes of drunken men who scan their breasts.
Underemployment on many tea plantations is an issue being debated to this hour. Sinhalese girls in the Southern coast who sell fruits, batiks and handicrafts have told me how foreign tourists solicit sex from them in decent tones promising to reward them in dollars. In Mullaithivu and Kilinochchi I was sad to see young boys aimlessly cycling looking for odd jobs. Likewise I met young Northern women, some with illegitimate children looking for daily labour. It must be said that in the North the Army is doing certain good projects to rebuild these young broken lives. The Army has a farm project that gives paid employment to rehabilitated combatants. I have eaten the fruits produced from this farm in Palaly. Even in the East the Army has given new life to hundreds of Sinhala youth at the Kandakaddu Army farm.
In the vibrant bazzar of Pettah young Muslim boys stand in the hot sun selling plastic goods so freely imported from China. Estate Tamil boys from Matale, Maskeliya, Nuwara Eliya and Hatton, tired of their lives on the tea plantations, now work as waiters in eating shops, serving tea (which is made in their homelands)and treated with no respect. The elegant clothes stores that employ young men and women labelling them as “sales associates”- this is another segment of underemployment. One cannot forget the young men selling lunch packets outside the Colombo University to young people their age. The young boys offering pony rides at the Nuwara Eliya race course also fall into this group. The three wheeler drivers are another prime segment of the underemployment category - there are almost 1059 million three wheelers registered with the RMV. The majority of 3 wheel drivers are young men, who have studied up to the O/L exams. Another forgotten group is young girls who work in unregulated SPAs and karoke lounges, sporting tattoos and unprofessional makeup, masquerading as hostesses and at night, selling their bodies. The police are familiar with the young boys who trade in narcotics and other contraband. The countless young women who work as servants (under the Colombo brand name of domestic aides) have no future or retirement benefits. What about the young boys selling sticker sheets outside the Fort railway station? But the issue is on printed census data all of these underpaid stragglers are shown as income generating employed Sri Lankans.
Five million citizens of the island are aged between 15-25 years. In this era of sustained prosperity and development how did thousands of youth get stagnated with limited productive wage earning skills? What are the moral values of a nation that has been influenced by Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism? Does part of this problem lay deeply hidden in our Asian mindsets? Is there a segment of Sri Lankans who still enjoy being treated with the walauwwa hamu dominating attitude, wherein they desire to be served by others. Yes, this is one reason why for decades our national policies have managed to keep certain classes of young people in job roles serving the supposedly elite classes. We all know that global business magnates like Bill Gates, Mukesh Ambani, Warren Buffet and the late Steve Jobs made their own coffee and didn’t have butlers at the office!! It must be said that there are thousands of executives in the opulent corporate sector of Sri Lanka who work for less salaries and remain silently disgruntled. Many are graduates with Masters degrees.
Since the 1980s and 1990s we have been plagued by violent youth uprisings from the South and North resulting in unwanted deaths and emotional scars that are still healing. We know the reasons and underemployment was a prime one. Even after the success of the post war era what provoked homegrown gangs like AVA to raise their heads in the North? Young people need a good education supplemented by leadership training like cadetting. English language skills are a must. English language must reach every rural school, a great challenge indeed.
IT education is also mandatory. Jobs must be given on merit and not recommendations from any political party. It is when we fail as a nation that young men and women flee as economic slaves to the Middle East, Italy, Australia and Japan - much to the consternation of these governments. Sri Lankan youth must earn a livable wage, which allows them to live with dignity and own their own homes and vehicles. Why the frenzied rush for US Green Cards? As a prudent priest told me once “The grass (pasture) is green where you water it”. Our nation has bountiful resources for everyone. May we make use of it with planned wisdom.