WINDHOEK: Many young people want under-graduate studies to be free of charge, and tertiary education to be improved too.
The youth made these suggestions during the National Youth Council (NYC) meeting in Tsumeb on 27 and 28 July this year.
It took place under the theme ‘Towards Framing the National Youth Policy’, and was aimed at obtaining input from the youth for the review of its National Youth Policy.
Speaking during a media conference in the capital on Wednesday, the Executive Chairman of the NYC, Mandela Kapere, said young people also called for funding for them to start own businesses.
The young people feel there are no funding mechanisms available for young people who want to start businesses. They, therefore, called for the Namibia Youth Credit Scheme (NYCS) of the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sports and Culture and the Credit Youth in Business of the NYC to merge into one big fund to create funding for the youth.
“This is a new emerging idea, and we need to have a fund that will address this challenge in terms of loans to the youth,” Kapere stressed.
Also speaking during the briefing, Senior Accountant at the NYC, Julius Namoloh stressed that another issue that came out strongly during the NYC policy conference was that the fields of architecture and quantity surveying have very few young black professionals in them.
According to Namoloh, it is stated in Vision 2030 that Namibia must have 2 000 architects by the year 2030, but to date, there are only 120 architects, of whom only six are young black people.
There are currently restrictions in place for young people to enter this profession, which makes it difficult for them, he claimed.
“As an architect, you cannot do charity work, and must get approval from that body (Namibia Institute of Architects) first,” he stressed.
Namoloh, therefore, called on such laws to be looked into and revisited to create easy access for young people in that profession, and to cater for all young people.
He further stated that the Namibian Government does not sponsor studies in the fields of architecture and quantity surveying.
Another outcome of that meeting was the lack of representation of youth in decision-making bodies, especially in parliament, where all current parliamentarians are above 35 years.
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General (SG) of the Namibia National Students’ Organisation (NANSO), Sharonice Busch said there is a need for Namibian youth to organise themselves and to take ownership of Vision 2030.
She said in order to do that, the youth must have values and understand Vision 2030 to play their role adequately.