There are more than 1.1 billion young people in the world who have their population varying between 15 to 25 years. Together, this age segment represents 18% of the world population. Asia, the most populous continent of the world also has the most number of youth.
Education is one of the primary requirements of children and youth and may have the same significance in the modern age as food and shelter have. As around 85% of the youth live in developing countries (including the low income and the lower-middle income countries), the scarcity of resources and the stigma of youth not being educated is a major hurdle towards the sound development of these countries.
Hence empowerment of the youth is and should be the topmost priority of any nation.
Investing Towards A Bright Future
Data and figures reveal that efforts towards education empowerment are not balanced and universally equal. Consequently, while some countries in Asia have made significant progress in the past, others in continents like Africa have lagged behind.
Enrollments towards primary school education have increased significantly in some regions of the world, but the Millennium Development Goal of U.N. related to school education was not reached back in the year 2015. Around 10.6% of the youth population still remains non-literate and are not aware of the basic reading and numerical skills.
Investing towards education (at all levels) should be a priority for all governments of the world, and the ROI (return on investment) here can be astounding.
Ensuring The Availability Of Quality Educational Infrastructure
Apart from the primary and secondary education, higher education is also of paramount importance. Efforts should be made to ensure that the schools and universities have quality and well-trained teaching and administrative staff. Safe and motivated education environment should also be a priority. Combining the development and educational policies would be a step in the right direction.
Overcoming Gender Inequality
Educated women have brought the world to their toes, and still the basic ignorance towards literacy and its benefits, apart from cultural intolerances and prejudices, make for biggest hurdles towards educating the fairer sex. The educational infrastructure, training, and educational programs should be designed and made to be gender-sensitive. Further, steps should be taken towards lowering the dropout rates and towards improving the access to education and educational institutions.
Fuelling The Industrial Growth And Demand Curve Through Education
The school drop-outs are quite vulnerable to unemployment. While basic education is necessary, targeted policies would ensure that governments create a strong, skilled, educated and professional workforce for their nation as well. Professional education and knowledge have driven globalization to reach its zenith.
All governments should ensure that they can create a sustainable, efficient and technical workforce that can build the nation and the reliance on external or foreign professionals and techies are subdued or mitigated.