Bring back apprentice training for youth who skip university
In Cliff Choi’s article (“Business has a responsibility to empower the city’s youth,” October 8) he informed us that there are 200,000 youngsters in our city officially living in poverty. More than 10 per cent of our youth are unemployed. Mr Choi called on the business sector to take up their corporate social responsibility.
Mr Choi also mentioned that the skills shortage in the labour market is a challenge to many companies. While our youth find it hard to get a job, companies find it hard to fill vacancies which can be filled by young people, but they lack the necessary basic skills.
In the 1970s and 1980s there was a government-sponsored apprenticeship scheme. School leavers joined apprenticeship programmes offered by companies after graduating from secondary schools. They went through a three-year training programme offered by the companies, and if they performed up to the companies’ requirements, they were awarded an “Apprentice Certificate” which was recognised in their trade.
In the 1990s when most manufacturing companies moved north, this apprenticeship scheme was dropped by the government. Although now there are very few manufacturing companies in Hong Kong, the government can still revive this apprenticeship scheme for all vocations, such as hotels, auto-repair, electrical and electronic technicians, construction, flower arrangements, hair-styling, and beauticians etc.
At present our secondary school system is geared to prepare students to enter universities. Yet, only 20 per cent of them can enter our universities. There are large numbers of students who are not university material, yet we force them to study the same academic subjects which they have no interest in. As a result they sleepwalk through Form 4 to Form 6 and end up unemployed after graduation.
To solve our youth unemployment problem, our society needs to change its “university or bust” view. At present students who fail to enter universities are viewed as failures. Is this fair to them?