Post-Form V hopes, realities

Asoccer player was once asked after a match-winning performance, “Where to from here?” and he responded, “I am going home, sir.”

While the story is in jest, it has context.

After the release of the Form V results, the question is, ‘Where to from here?’

The answer must not be ‘home’ in this case.

We have a lot of people already lying idle at home. With a tear-jerking one in two young people unemployed in this country, home is not an option for school leavers.

We need them either in tertiary institutions or busy chasing their dreams through entrepreneurship or solopreneurship.

That requires a flat playing field ready to welcome them. This cohort of school leavers is one of the most significant tests for the new government.

They must embrace and lead them to the proverbial green pastures and restore their souls as per the Bible verse.

UNEMPLOYMENT

Why should we care about the Form V results today? This is because they affect all of us. Unemployment affects all of us. Employment affects all of us, and we are all responsible for where these children land up.

We have read of the devastating effects of poverty, with crime looking to reach unprecedented levels. We have seen task teams set up for corruption and soon for education, but one task team we also need is for poverty.

Poverty is central to all our problems as a country. While we state lovely figures of economic growth and SACU receipts, the reality on the ground is that there is no money in many pockets.

The police this week admitted that gangsterism is on the rise. Some of us witness it daily in the neighbourhoods we live in— daily harassment by the unemployed with threats of violence. We do not want this group of school leavers to be recruited into these gangs.

EASY LIFE

These gangs offer a seemingly easy life for a school leaver: loud music, alcohol and girls. But it comes at a price and usually, it is the lives of innocent people. Poverty needs to be arrested, lest it arrests us.

This week, the Form V results we had anticipated were finally released. The response has been mixed especially because it is said it is among the worst results in recent times. But in the worst cases, we find our true selves.

The Times of Eswatini reported on Wednesday morning that there had been a significant drop in the 2023 Eswatini General Certificate in Secondary Education (EGCSE) pass rate, which stands at 88.33 per cent, when compared to the previous year (2022), where it was at 92.58 per cent.

The overall pass rate in the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) programme was 84.07, while in 2022 it was 92.32.

However, pupils in the Eswatini Prevocational Certificate of Secondary Education Programme (EPCSE) did well, attaining a pass rate of 96.73 per cent compared to IGCSE and EGCSE.

SILVER LINING

There is always a silver lining somewhere. As a former St Mark’s High School pupil, it was heartening to see the school continue to reclaim its former glory.

When I was a pupil, we had whiz kids who would get 100 per cent throughout the year.

Today, some of them are leaders in sectors like IT and entrepreneurship.

Last week, as a judge for a Public Speaking event hosted by the US Embassy, I was thrilled to see Evelyn Baring High School perform spectacularly in the event.

I told one fellow judge that the pupils present at the event were cut from a rare cloth because it takes a lot to research, plan and speak in public. Unsurprisingly, we later heard that Baring was among the top performers even in Form V.

It has been an open secret that our education system has been sliding in recent years. It is also known even by the most disinterested person that we need serious education reforms in the country. COVID-19 also did the education sector no favours.

While it brought about technology into teaching and learning, it also distanced pupils from what matters in the use of gadgets and they now seem to explore more of TikTok than their teachers.

In a presentation to one school recently, I asked the pupils what they would choose between listening to a teacher and TikTok, and they said teachers.

TEACHERS’ ROLES

I unpacked teachers’ roles in their lives vis-a-vis the fake lives on TikTok and asked again what they would choose, and they eventually said teachers.

Announcing the results, Minister of Education and Training Owen Nxumalo attributed the decline in the candidates’ performance to the dispositions in learning, which have been encountered since 2019.

Nxumalo stated that the 2023 cohort had been severely impacted by the school closures and other disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest. But this is the last group to use the pandemic as a reason for not attaining the best results.

In 2 minutes and 47 seconds at Sibaya, former Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Hlobisile Ndlovu unpacked what, in her view, was going wrong with the youth and shared proposed solutions.

Ndlovu decried that many young people were school dropouts and had become maids to earn a living to put bread on the table.

She said some of them had also become textile workers. She added that life had made many of them throw in the towel. She suggested that young people be taught basic skills for various jobs, including driving. She also asked that churches be included in helping fight the issue of dropouts.

For example, she said some could be given lessons inside a church during the week so they do not miss out on education just because they had no money.

This, she also noted, would be supported by the fact that there were too many unemployed yet qualified teachers and retired teachers who could make her suggestion a reality.

The suggestions may sound lurid, but they come from someone who has had the experience for an entire term and knows first-hand the daily challenges of the country’s youth.

CRYING

We hope that some of these views will be considered to save the youth. She said, “Young people have found themselves in a hole and are crying to be pulled out.”

As young people head out to the real world, my tips are to serve, volunteer and keep your time occupied by things that will add experience and value to your life.

This is not the time to relax and enjoy. It is the time to rebuild your future with your greatest capital, which is time and energy. Where to from here for the young ones?

From here, the journey to self begins. The journey to adulthood is in full swing. While the government, community and parents have a role to play in your future, you have to lead it.

In the same economy that we say there are no jobs, someone is starting work on Monday.

It could be you if you also generate skills from online courses while awaiting tertiary. This is no time to rest. Keep going.