Education disaster could see fabric of democracy unravel

For young people who still foolishly question the importance of a quality education as a means of getting a decent job, figures released this week by Statistics SA make sobering reading.

The proportion of black Africans between the ages of 25 and 34 with a skilled job shrank from 18% in 1994 to 15% today.

By contrast, 60% of whites and 50% of Indians in the same age group now have skilled jobs - significantly up from the figures of 40% and 2% respectively in 1994, while 22% of coloured South Africans hold skilled positions today as opposed to 12% in 1994.

Though discriminatory hiring practices might still be playing a role, the ability of white, Indian and coloureds to become upwardly mobile is mainly dependent on their access to better education than most of their black counterparts.

The door to a brighter future remains firmly shut for millions of black youngsters, a state of affairs that has been labelled a "generational catastrophe" by Deputy Minister in the Presidency Buti Manamela.

It is much more than that. Youth unemployment is not unique to South Africa, but disparities in life opportunities available to youngsters from the different races make it especially dangerous. It is not trite to say that the very fabric of our young democracy could unravel if it is not urgently addressed.

Some solutions are obvious. Dramatically jack up the quality of education in township schools by incentivising and upskilling teachers who perform and forcing those who don't to up their game.

Fix technical colleges so that they produce graduates whose skills are in demand in an increasingly complex and changing workplace.

Get universities to step up efforts to equip students from disadvantaged backgrounds to deal with tough academic programmes.

Keep promoting employment opportunities, despite opposition from the unions, through initiatives such as the youth wage incentive.

And finally, create the policy certainty so desperately needed to encourage business to invest in South Africa instead of looking for greener pastures abroad.