Young Professionals - World Youth Skills Day : exploiting the abilities of the coming generations 

The youth of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. The World Youth Skills Day is celebrated on 15th July. It is highly believed that the engagement of youth in sustainable development works is central to achieving viable, inclusive and stable societies. However, one main criticism our society faces is that the skills of our youth in this domain remain unexploited. 

Vedhav Ramparsad : “A lack of development on the local platform”

Vedhav Rampersad avers that there is a considerable amount of young Mauritian people engulfed in drugs while simultaneously, one can have a lot of hope after considering the achievements being raked in by our youth both domestically and abroad. “The web has offered a breath of fresh air in terms of connection with the outer world and with it, opportunities whether in terms of scholarships or skills acquired. The only major downside is the potential loss of homegrown talent to other countries because of a lack of development on the local platform. As a result, major changes are necessary. The Côte d’Or Multi- Sports Complex is a commendable effort to promote sports and can prove to be a stepping stone towards the modernisation of the Sports field. Similar efforts in other areas, like the promotion of upcoming musicians or guidance on their rights as artists will end up being a step in the right direction.” 

Keshant Persand : “Education and skills training are key determinants of success” 

Keshant Persand recalls that there are way too many young people out there who are disconnected from school, family and society. “They don’t understand the need to learn or what it will take to be a productive member of society. For the youth, having the courage to follow one’s heart’s true path doesn’t happen overnight. It is fostered and encouraged by parents who believe in their children, who convince them that they can do anything they set their minds to.” 

Education and skills training are key determinants of success in the labour market. Indeed, schools can incorporate more real-world exercises and resources into respective subjects to nurture youth, so that they are best equipped to face challenges in life, he says. “The Government at all levels can direct more funding into job skills training, through schools and community agencies such as the Sector Education and Training Authorities.

Being part of a program set by the National Leadership Engine in 2019, this helped me to develop my communication skills, creativity, problem solving and critical thinking skills by implementing projects benefiting society. There is no better investment than helping a young person to develop his/her inner abilities. To allow our young people to realise their potential, it is vital that we celebrate our emerging youth talent and provide opportunities for it to flourish.” 

Abhijitsing Aubeelucksing : “The Government is not encouraging young people”

Abhijitsing Aubeelucksing states that the majority of the people living in Mauritius have the tendency to focus mostly on academics. “Apart from academic skills, our youngsters have much more to offer and prove themselves outside the academic box. For instance, we have a really rich culture in music and we even have our own music, the ‘SEGA’, which is much appreciated all over the world. If we can have universities for pursuing further academic studies, then why not universities specified for music studies?” 

He adds that the Government is not encouraging our young people enough to take part in various sports activities. “In each district, a sports complex should have been built. More trainers, P. E. teachers should be hired to train those youngsters and even assure the parents that their child being an athlete will not destroy his future. In addition, the amount of youngsters consuming drugs can be substantially decreased with sports activities. If they are busy attending training sessions and doing their best, they will not even bother to think about drugs.” 

Mevin Rammondhur : “Not enough is done to exploit youth skills” 

Young people are vital for the bright socio-economic future of any nation and championing their skills development through technical, vocational education, training and development helps to close the skills gap and increase their employability. However, in Mauritius not enough is done to exploit youth skills, states Mevin Rammondhur. 

He further adds, “We need to ponder upon whose responsibility it is to develop our youth into capable, responsible and motivated members of the adult workforce and I firmly believe that it is a collective responsibility of both the public and private sectors. There needs to be more youth skills development programmes to, inter alia, provide training in leadership skills, youth entrepreneurship, ethics, employability and recreational activities starting from primary levels itself up to young graduates such that no young man or woman is left behind. Mauritius cannot move to become a high-income economy with a failure rate of approximately 25% at the end of primary school level itself. Such failure rates affect our human capital levels and accentuates the skills and income inequality gap.”