As the country commemorates Youth Day on 16 June, a 20-year-old Durban Sibahle Shange said being a youth in South Africa is difficult, especially being a young Black woman in the male-dominated world. “As females we have to work ten times harder than everyone else just to prove that we’re also capable of making a difference in the world or just so that we can be recognised as an individual,” said Shange.
Shange is currently working for a non-profit organisation, Imbizo Foundation which focuses on youth empowerment, giving them guidance and skills on setting goals. “I feel like the government is not doing enough or providing enough opportunities for the youth when it comes to education and resources for the youth to enhance their skills, as much as I feel like the youth should learn to be independent but in reality we need all the help we can get from the government, there are so many unemployed graduates in South Africa but there are no job opportunities which is why most of them turn to crime, especially now with the Covid-19 pandemic, many people were retrenched therefore most companies can’t hire other people and the ones who have just graduated can’t also be hired so they’ll have to figure out other ways to make ends meet,” she said.
She said growing up she faced challenges as she wanted to get better education, however because her parents couldn’t afford it she had to attend an under-performing primary school. “At the school I went to every subject was taught in vernacular and by the time I got a chance to attend high school I almost didn’t get in because of my academic background. After I matriculated getting into university was also a challenge because I had to pay for my fees since I didn’t get any bursary and that eventually caused me to drop out and get a job to save up for my fees,” she said. She said looking back to the challenges she had, passing her matric paved the way for her to attend university and work extra hard to change the situation at home. “As a young woman growing up in South Africa personally I feel that the government still needs to apply focus and invest more on the youth, especially when it comes to education and the resources needed by the youth to gain more knowledge and skills. The youth is the future of this country and should not be suffering. If the youth is suffering, so will the next generation,” Shange added.
She added that she feels that the youth of this country is limited. “There are no opportunities and if I was given an opportunity to meet with the president, I would tell him that government has failed the schooling system, education is not the same for everyone. Free education comes with a very poor quality and in order to get the best education we have to pay a large amount of money of which a majority of parents and learners still can’t afford. Some learners still have to travel over 20km barefoot to get to school. This does not make sense, we are in a democratic country, but we still having problems with getting the basic needs such as water and electricity,” she said.
Shange said the Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the economy and also in the education system. “Other countries had the privilege to continue giving their learners the best education through online learning and also tried by other means to give them the best education possible. It would be great if South African students can get the same, because most of them only attend classes two times a week which doesn’t even cover half of the syllabus. This will have a huge impact on their results especially on the matriculants because the educators will still expect them to get the best results in order for them to get to university. I think it would make a huge difference to have the youth in parliament because we need young people with fresh ideas who also understand and the challenges we deal with day to day, who know exactly what we need as the youth and also how we can lift each other up.”
Shange said that another factor government should look into is giving the unemployed youth skills and do away with corruption as most graduates are still at home with their degrees and those who do have jobs are employed because they know people in higher positions. “Others get jobs because of their skin colour and race which proves that there is still a long way to go in making SA a democratic country. Lastly the government should find solutions to the problems we have, especially the social ills. If they can fight drug use by educating the youth then the country would be a better place,” Shange added.
