Issues and Options

1. THE ISSUES

By SUSHIL KUMAR BHANDARI

Unemployment among youth is a key factor behind social and political unrest in Nepal. The current peace process still undergoing through a fragile situation mainly due to high expectations of the public after comprehensive peace agreement.SLC drop out youth constitutes the major challenges as majority of them neither can continue their education not find appropriate jobs for themselves. It is imperative for government and civil society groups to ponder on the issues in time so that the problem does not escalate to another unrest or crisis in the country.
Two thirds of the Nepali students who enroll in primary education do not continue into lower secondary and one quarter of those who do enter Grade 6, drop out after Grade 7. There is no yardstick as yet by which the learning gains of early dropouts can be accurately measured. Nepal does not yet have the capacity to run national assessments of educational performance which would enable comparisons of educational achievements to be made at various levels of the school system.
Efficiency in the secondary education system in Nepal is low. A World Bank Study in Nepal reported that the heaviest dropout occurs in grades 7 and 10, at the end of the lower secondary and secondary cycles. Using the reconstructed cohort method to map the flow of students from Grade 6 to Grade 10, it is found that only two-thirds of the students will eventually complete Grade 10. Assuming the appearance rate of regular students at the SLC examination of 80% and the pass rate of 40%, only 26.7% of the cohort passes the SLC for the first time they take it. Similarly, assuming a compartmental and exempted students’ appearance rate at the SLC of 80% and pass rate ’8 of 47%, an additional 10% of the cohort will eventually pass the SLC exam by re-taking it. In total, only 37% of the student cohort who enter grade 6 passes SLC.

The ongoing education system is blamed to be not efficient to produce good results. The blame is seems to be supported by the ongoing the S.L.C results where the large chunk of the appeared students remains unsuccessful to pass the level . About 4 lakhs students who appeared in the three consecutive year of SLC exam are found to be failed. The figure of dropouts may sore up if additional sent-up dropouts and other level of primary education is considered. Globally, young people are more than three times as likely as adults to be unemployed. Almost half of the unemployed workers in the world are young people although youth make up only 25 per cent of the working-age population. According to preliminary estimates for 2005, young people in the labour force were almost six times (5.6) more likely than adults to be unemployed in South-East Asia. The youth-to adult unemployment ratio for South Asia is also high at 3.8, while for East Asia the unemployment rate for youth is 2.7 times that for adults.

1.1 Why unemployment of school dropout matters?
There are costs incurred when young people are unable to find appropriate jobs. These include economic, social and political factors as well as costs to communities, families and individuals. Moreover, the chance of production of human capital who can lead the future gets faint colour.

1.1.1 Increased poverty:
A study by ILO estimated 700 million people in Asia live on less than US$ 1 per day. In most countries of the region, unemployment and underemployment of youth exacerbate the problem of the working poor. Many youth from poor households drop out of school to enter the labour force at an early age, often ending up in low-paid jobs with little prospect for future improvement. Unfortunately, there is a vicious cycle of chronic poverty with intergenerational links – young people from poor families end up in unproductive jobs. Placing young people in decent jobs is an important way to end the vicious cycle.

1.1.2 Social exclusion:
When young women and young men do not have an opportunity to find a decent job, they are more likely to feel excluded from society and lose their individual sense of self-esteem. Youth who enter the labour market in depressed circumstances are more likely to have difficulties throughout their working life. These factors can lead to crime and unrest.

1.1.3 Foregone output:
Unemployment of young people means wasted potential measured in terms of output that could have been produced and income that could have been earned. While it is difficult to obtain precise estimates of the resulting economic waste, the ILO has produced some figures using data for 2003 to measure additional GDP that would result if the unemployment rate for young people were cut in half. In this context Nepal suffering both at skilled and unskilled labour markets.

2. CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE PROBLEM

Economic condition severely puts constraints on the further study through chances of further attempts and the skill acquisition for gainful employment. As the unwanted leisure time prevails, the youths start to indulge in the social evils and criminal activities which turn a society in a fragile security status.

4. NATIONAL POLICY
Interim three year plan of Nepal (2064/65-2066/67) has set up a vision to achieve poverty reduction goal in line with millennium development goals (MDGs) through a supporting wig of employment creation. Technological and cultural lag in absence of human resources familiar to skill, capital, and technology is a cause of widespread unemployment. The plan is expected to explore opportunity of self-employment by creating conducive environment to access skills, capital, and technological innovation and creation of job opportunities. Its strategy explicitly spells over the state attention to put priority to targeted youths in providing skill development and finance the employment related activities through soft loan with subsidies interest rate.
Education system is expected to have positive impacts linking it to life skill, livelihood base, job-oriented, skill enhancement, and productive with collaborative and coordinative approach with non-governmental organization (NGOs) and the private sectors as a key player. It has realized that skills as one of the indicator of quality education. Arrangement of alternative education to the school dropout youth has gained space in its policy. It aspires to provide skills targeted to employment to 42,640 people within its time-frame. Education and skill development of youth is expected to advance simultaneously keeping keen interest on technical, vocational, and market-oriented strategy. It realizes the importance as a policy guideline in its youth section.

Minister of Finance clearly indicated the government priority in education system in the ongoing budget (2065/66). The fiscal plan envisages the arrangement to link the education system with life skill and productivity. The need of quality education with the core emphasis on skill and entrepreneurship attitude generation is put as the checklist. The plan spells loudly the interlink age between illiteracy with underdevelopment and backwardness. Skills development for employment initiatives is going to be implemented in targeted districts with the aim of providing services to 14,200 people. The production of the competitive human resources with compatible skills and quality targeting the local and overseas market has been a target of the government. The minister through the annual plan promises to adopt the rational steps to provide status to employment as of citizen’s fundamental right. Entrepreneurship development is the key to success in the lead to the vision.

Entrepreneurship can be developed through influencing the attitude towards vocational skills. Three ways to enhance such aspiration are:-
• Implantation of entrepreneurship attitude
• Involvement in small enterprise
• Imparting vocational and technical skills
Koirala, B. Alternative Thinking in Education.AFO-Nepal.2064

5. KEY QUESTIONS
Goal of this initiative is to help create enabling environment for school dropout youth ( age 15 to 24 years) to motivate and access employable vocational skills and enterprises so that they also can share peace dividend. Some specific questions to be answered for developing an appropriate plan and schemes are as follows:

1. What are the basic needs and major challenges of SLC dropout youth to access employable skills and get chance to be absorbed in the prevailing and prospective job market?

2. To what extent the existing vocational training institutes, courses, and approaches are relevant to address their needs of vocational skills and running a business independently or joining with relevant enterprises to address the felt needs of the section and society?

3. What types of support mechanisms are most useful to help or motivate the dropout youths more specifically those who have prospects to get jobs at local or international labour markets?

4. From demand point of view, what are the most appropriate schemes for short term and long term benefits for the unemployed school dropout youth?

5. What types of roles civil society organizations (for example NGOs), private sector and government agencies can play and how?

6. STRATEGY OF PROPOSED PROGRAM
Unemployment has been a challenging issue over the national economy and human development. Its tendency to lean towards the worst condition, in fact, is a cumulative effect over the decade’s long failed development initiatives. As its incidence advances so does the severity. Livelihoods are at risk and nation is vulnerable to fragile stage at its worse end. It’s the right time, if not, already late, to provide a suitable exist to the problem where the national aspiration to lead to new equilibrium adjusting dynamics of its governing forces is explicitly awaken.

Initiatives leading to bring changes in the scenario should be able to convert the problem seen and the consequential effects in favor of the job creation. Productive employment is the means to secure the high quality youth capital. Besides, it has a holistic influence towards the overall development of a nation. Productive youth not only secure their future but also ensure strengthening the nation as a whole. Investment on youths is the most in the nation building with a strong foundation of present and future human capital.

Government of Nepal has been putting its effort at its mettle through different ministries in general and CTEVT in particular to disseminate skills through various training measures. It has a great meaning to produce skilled and semi-skilled youth for national and international market demand. Yet, the government efforts felt the need to be supported by the private sector and the civil society organization to drive momentum to change the quantum of muscle power to skilled human capital among the S.L.C. dropout youth. It is the marginalize sector within the youth too and the institutional coverage on the sector is minimum. As the result, the figure spell out the poverty incidence among the people with academic qualification below S.L.C is breathtaking. There is a clear understanding on the need of strategic approach to guide the issue, in accordance with the national policy which certainly provides better results. Thus, Kaushila Foundation fells the need of the following schemes to be made urgently inorder to deal with the issue efficiently. Appropriate selection of type of training and duration for an individual should be based on ones interest, capability, and future perspectives. It would be a great achievement if at least 10% such youth which accounts to 40,000 would be involved in skill development trainings. It is assumed that 50% of them take up short term training, 35% prefer mid-term training and rest 15% involve in long term training.

6.1 Short term training
First hand skills on the job oriented training empower people to acquire the basic skills. The short term training opens up avenues in job market. Vocational training of about 6 month as a full time course can equipped youth in handling the job in areas such as plumbing, electrician, carpenter, mason, tailoring, gardening, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, hair and beauty saloon, computing and hardware maintenance etc. There is the possibility of quick responsive from the side of job market on the demand of such forces at local and national level. The cost estimate of training 20,000 youths accounts to be NRs.264, 000,000 on the basis of per head cost estimated of NRs.13, 200a.

6.2 Mid term training
Full time course of 10 to 12 months can be considering as under this category. Aims of training shall be enabling such youth to understand the nature and equipped skills to handle related task. Technical course on food and beverage, construction, surveying, agricultural, industrial workers, baking and cookery, sanitation and gardening are few to list, can be the potential area of the job training. The estimated amount of training cost accounts to be NRs. 303,660,000 under the estimation of NRs. 21,690a cost per head.

The above mention trainings can enable to bridge shortage of manpower in the job market. The areas have been witnessed attraction of large inflow of migrant worker from the neighboring country.

6.3 Long term training
Training course covering 12 to 16 months can be arranged as a long term training schemes for the youth. An intensive training aims to widen the knowledge as well as skills of youth to handle assigned job independently. Technical competencies thus acquired enable them to create new job platform and be self-employed too. Training related to the public health volunteers, tourist guides, and construction mason for seismic resistant infrastructure, electrical and electronic maintenance, shorting and shooting specialist, development workers (Social mobilization), computing, auto-mechanic, photography and many more. These trainings further opens door for intensive training on the area and related task. These lead to the specialization on the very field. The financial requirement for training 15% such youth under consideration for training requires NRs. 157,800,000 on the basis of per capita training cost of 26,300a.

The culture of ‘Work is worship’ should be implanted among the youths with proper integration of life skills, productive education, and moral strengthening through the process of role modeling. Training centers can be marked according to the geographical proximity, volume of trainer and capacity of the training institution. Financial cost and institutional arrangement shall be based on the principle of sustainability and efficiency.

a. Upadhyay, U. Insurgency Affected People of Nepal: Rehabilitation. IIDS publication. 2006

Provision of interest free or soft loan to the trained youth through certain financing mechanism is essential to create avenues to practice skills gained and to materialize the entrepreneurship. Financial support of NRs. 10,000 to 100,000 could be an incentive to involve in self-employment scheme.
A detail workout on the program will be developed later.

7. CONCLUSION
High rate of school dropouts is the consequence of the loophole in the ongoing education system. It has been cause of the mass unemployment and eventually triggers social evils and unrest. Constrains to access the employment opportunity ruins the economic wellbeing of a person and related dependents and degrade the creativity leading to weak human capital. Available data reveals that poverty incidence and poverty severity are significantly higher in the mass of school dropouts. It is the right time if not late, to initiate a concrete strategy and action to address issue of unemployment to secure future of the school dropouts and nation as well.

It is a rare moment in the history. Nepal has been involved in the nation building by providing suitable exist to the transitional situation. Issue of employment has to be felt at its ground reality and suitable action is the must on time to aid peace process too. Volume of people to be address for employment is very high and school dropouts involved in the conflict of 10 years who won[t be assimilated in the national security force are to be to provided with skills for employment. To address the issue, skill development training with strong market linkages for productive employment would be an entry point to address youth employment problem. It provides opportunity and inclusion of those excluded in mainstream development strategy and helps them to create owns avenues of self reliant through decent work.

8. WAY FORWARDS
8.1 Research to find size of such force should be carried in regular basis.
8.2 Market analysis and potential future job market needs to be anticipated through straigic and rational study.
8.3 There is a need to be acquainted critically on field of interest and aspiration of the force.
8.4 Institutional arrangement and the role specification should be taken into consideration to provide training to such youths.
8.5 Human resources and financial sources need to be identified and arrange in sustainable way.
8.6 Short term and long term policy regarding job creation and human capital development pivotal strategy for better outputs.
8.7 Database Inventory on job related information needs to be arranged through ‘Employment Information Centre’.
8.8 Financial arrangements in term of soft loan are necessary to stimulate the entrepreneurships among such youths. Institutional base such as ‘Employment Service Bank’ can be a best option.
8.9 Committee comprising of experts should be developed which analyses possible area of entrepreneurships development and facilitate the interested youths.

 Prepared with vauable suggestions and instructions of Nagmindra Dahal sir.