Our government is actually aware of the higher fiscal costs of providing services to a group which has had the benefit of greater access to primary education and better child health services. The ‘youth bulge’ can be a risk. Concerns abound of the risk of unemployment. But the other side of the coin – the positive side – is that the ‘youth bulge’ is an unprecedented opportunity. In Belize to deepen its human capital. The rapid and massive expansion of primary education has put tremendous pressure in places at secondary levels. We have witnessed unprecedented construction of new classrooms right across the country in urban and rural communities.

The provision of free basic textbooks in five areas of language arts, math, science, social studies and Spanish to all sixty four thousand primary school students is nothing short of revolutionary. This will no doubt bring measurable improvement in the quality of education in the thousands of poor and disadvantaged students especially in rural communities.

The challenge now is to continue expanding access to secondary education with an emphasis on skills training.

The PUP Government has the foresights to carry out a major investment in vocational and technical education. This $40 million plus investment in ITVET state of the art facilities in San Ignacio, Orange Walk Town, Corozal Town, the Stann Creek District and at Salamanca in the Toledo District will in time to come pay huge dividends with the large cohort of young people trained and prepared for employment with technical skills in the agricultural and hospitality industries, as well as plumbers, carpenters, mechanics, electricians, computers, telecommunications, landscaping and the list goes on. The Centre For Employment Training on St. Thomas Street, Belize City shows what can be done.

Of equal importance is offering second chances to young people. Youth For The Future is an idea whose time has come. Greater investment must be made in this “faculty” to open avenues for young people to participate directly in their own development process.

We must avoid at all costs YFF becoming another bureaucratic department. It must be given its own “charter” and allowed to take flight. The idea is to empower young people. They after all are the next generation of household heads and parents. Giving up on any of our youth is not an option.