The government has made it a target to create at least 200,000 jobs every year to absorb the growing number of job seekers who are still in their prime. With over half of the population under the age of 25 there is need to harness this critical manpower by making them productive. Even though the government has set in place policies to empower the youth with knowledge, not all of them will get an office desk, a mindset that has been entrenched in many developing countries. With the introduction of new technologies in administration, there will even be less positions for papers pushers in the civil service, therefore calling for thinking outside the box to deal with the issue. It is encouraging that the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) has cast its net wide by introducing new areas of skills training such as hair dressing and trades needed in the hospitality industry. An idle and unemployed youth can be a tinderbox that can spur crime and other antisocial behavior, therefore it would be in their interests if local communities came on board purposefully and not leave it to WDA alone to deal with. The time-tried policies of apprenticeship, which has been the driving force of many developed economies’ manufacturing sector should be taken up seriously by the authorities. There is no better school than learning on the job.
