By Mabinty M. Kamara
The National Youth Service (NYS) has certified 725 university graduates in various disciplines as ready for the job market across Sierra Leone and beyond.
The Executive Director of the National Youth Service, Onanah Jalloh told Politico that one hundred of the graduates are teachers and they were not part of the graduation ceremony because they had already been deployed to their different locations after a special six week training course organized for them. “Aside the discipline and aspects of nationalism and patriotism, they were exclusively trained to build their teaching capacity,” he said.
He explained that they had already got institutions both private and state-owned requesting the services of the youth corps when they shall have completed the training programs but he said upon graduation, they will now be deployed in those institutions across the country including schools based on the number requested.
Jalloh added that while at their various locations, they will be on a stipend of six hundred thousand Leones monthly from the government, which happened to be the minimum wage in Sierra Leone. While assuring the institutions of their quality, he urged the graduates to take advantage of the opportunity they have among others.
Jalloh said: “Our mandate is to give them the opportunity to be competitive in the job market… most institutions are retaining them based on their performances and we have also been able to negotiate with statutory institutions saying that our certificates must be given priority in terms of interviews and job examinations which is also happening now.”
In his keynote address, the Anti-Corruption Commission Boss described the enterprise as the highest point of consideration for youths and their needs since independence. “Issues pertaining to young people should be in the hearts and minds of all modern-day decision-makers. This is because, as the World Bank rightly puts it, “Young men and women today face increasing uncertainty in their hopes of undergoing a satisfactory transition and this uncertainty and disillusionment can, in turn, have damaging effects on individuals, communities, economies and society at large.”
The ACC boss said that research a number of issues affecting young people; including the lack of job opportunities, high illiteracy rate, drugs abuse, lack of decent and affordable housing, perpetration of, and involvement, in crimes and violence, among others.
He referenced the UNDP figures which indicate that 70 percent of the youth population is either underemployed or unemployed and that the picture is bleak for young women, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic that is ravaging the world has massively worsened the situation because of leading to hundreds of thousands of young people losing their jobs. Ben Kaifala said “As young people in this National Youth Service Corps, you should see yourselves as guardians and protectors of public projects and resources. For example, where there are clear signs of willful destruction and sabotage of public utilities, you should, and must, stand up and do what it will take to secure them. Patriotism is a charged action word.”
The National Youth Service was established in 2016 and commissioned in 2018, to provide the requisite training, and transitional preparation for young graduates to enter the job market.
The Saturday 1st February event marks the third Cohort of graduate to benefit from the youth service scheme.
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