Young people appeal for vacation jobs

A youth group under the banner Young Intellectuals of District #15 in Montserrado County is calling on the Liberian government to provide vacation jobs for students in all 15 counties.

YID said in the absence of  vacation jobs young people are unable to sustain themselves so they become vulnerable to activities that have the propensity to destroying their future.

According to the group, the essence of citizens exercising their democratic franchise by participating in an election is for those elected to cater to  the electorate rather than abandoning them in abject poverty, which has a great impact on them in society.

It further noted that there are young people in the country who have the ability and are willing to serve in the public sector, but don’t such opportunity.

Speaking over the weekend during a news conference in the district a spokesperson for the group, Mustapha Dukuly, said the idea of government creating opportunities for young people to work during vacation is to empower them while they are on break.

Mustapha said often young people in various communities are idle except to play video games, gamble, particularly the sports betting game, winners which has the propensity to destroy their future.

He said decision of the government to close both public and private schools without putting proper measures in place to help students maintain their academic capabilities has left severe negative impact on students, including the likelihood of dropping out of school, increase in violence, drug abuse, and teenage pregnancy, which decrease creativity and productivity.
He said sending a child to school without giving him meal to eat is like building a house without foundation, adding that the future of Liberia is no longer in the hands of the older ones but the young generation.
 
Mustapha reminded that a nation cannot be built without educated minds and this is why education is the most important and powerful weapon needed to change the world, and such education should come with compensation in order for young people to be prepared, because parents cannot do everything.
 
He said some parents were affected by the declining economic environment due to the Ebola Virus, while others were immediately sent home from their respective places of work as part of measures to breaking the chain of transmission, and eventually eradicates the deadly Ebola virus out of Liberia.

YID spokesperson noted that these drastic measures have brought more poverty, adding, “A government that renders services without jobs helps neither the governors nor the governed; this means that government must consider the provision of vacation jobs to young people who are expected to return to their various institutions of learning.”