For a large number of Nepalese youngsters who are growing up amid extreme political instability in the last 13 years — the leaders have not given anything except illiteracy, unemployment and helplessness. Despite the negligence and exclusion, the rural youths are honest, dedicated and constructive rather than their counterparts of urban areas. In search of jobs, the rural youths roam from place to place but in vain. If the state does not provide them with appropriate jobs, this productive age group of population can be compelled to embrace undesirable works and fuel perennial instability in the country. Whose responsibility is it to take care of these left out youths?
By KESHAB POUDEL
Ganga Rai, 15, is a resident of Diktel of Khotang district 500 kilometers east of capital Kathmandu. A primary school drop out, Rai – who cannot read or write – had left his village a year ago in search of work. He is now working as a labor in a road extension project in Baneshwor in the capital.
“I am willing to do every kind of work from porter to construction worker. When I was in my home, I had to take care of almost everything,”said Rai. “I came here with a group of 20 of my villagers. I will return after earning some money and return to my village before the season harvesting.”
Rai is the eldest son of his family and he has a younger sister and a brother. “If I give money to mother and father, they will be happy,”said Rai. “Being the eldest son, it is my duty to take care of my family.”Rai makes Rs. 100 (US$ 1.5) a day and saves Rs. 50 (55 cents).
Sahabir Thapa, 16, a resident of Betrawati village of Salyan District has a similar story to tell. A primary school drop out, Thapa came to Kathmandu last year in search of job and now works as a porter at National Trading Office and his job is to load and unload sacks of cement.
“My job is not a regular one and I receive money on the basis of number of sacks of cement that I load and unload,”said Thapa. “On an average, if there is no bandha, hartal, Chakkajam and no landslide, I make Rs. 100 to Rs. 150 (US$ 1.5 to US$2),”said Thapa. “If the situation improves, I will go to home during Dashain with some saving.”
Although Rai’s and Thapa’s families have made a little investment on them and state has provided virtually nothing to them except the painful life, these two youths are obedient, disciplined and loyal to the state.
Rai and Thapa are not the only two youths who are neither literate nor have any technical training. There is a whole generation of millions of such youths who are growing up following the restoration of democracy in 1990.
The youths who have been studying at Tribhuwan University receive subsidized education as well as parental support but they seem to be less loyal to the family as well as the state, which provides the subsidized education than those rural youths — who blame their own fate for their economic misery. Along with consuming huge budgets, the urban youths also frequently set ablaze public vehicles and public properties.
The youngsters who are studying in the subsidized government schools and do not seem to have secured anything more than the inferior quality of education and learnt the ways of destruction. Only a handful of children of affluent classes of people in the cities are getting education in foreign countries. At the Tribhuwan University — the largest university, which is wholly subsidized – 117,675 students are studying.
One of the main features of Tribhuwan University is that it has been turned into a political battleground rather than an institution for academic exercise. Whatever the political situation evolves, the students of TU are the first ones to launch the agitation burning tires and vandalizing public vehicles.
Despite the huge investment on their education, the urban youths seem to have acquired skills of destruction. On the other hand, despite the utter negligence, the rural youths are still obedient and disciplined before the state.
Growing Up Amid Instability
The youths like Rai and Thapa have seen country’s unprecedented political turmoil including restoration of democracy in 1990 followed by continuous political instability.
From the single party government to coalition and the government under the direct rule of monarchy, there were various forms of governance — but none of them were able to deliver a program for the prosperity.
When the Congress formed the first government in 1993, it had introduced certain sweeping projects. After the dissolution of the parliament in 1995, Nepal entered into a new phase of political instability and the good beginning got derailed.
Following King Gyanendra’s action of October 2002, the country continues suffering from one or the other kind of political instability.
“Today, Nepal stands at the crossroads between a brighter future that promises more sustained poverty reduction and the possibility of the country becoming mired in a more protracted internal conflict. Despite the many positive changes Nepal has seen since the advent of multi-party democracy in 1990 and the first wave of economic liberalization measures in the early 1990s, the recent developments have highlighted the stark and worsening inequities in Nepal, not only in terms of incomes, but also of the fundamental ability of the Nepali citizen to participate in social and political decision making process,”writes The World Bank’s Nepal Country Assistance Strategy 2004-2007.
Nobody’s Agenda
From the King to the political leaders, nobody has any idea about what to do with this strong and dedicated force of Nepal’s youths. Despite certain weaknesses, the popular governments under the pressure of their elected constituencies had made certain programs targeting the youth. They had made short term and long term programs to provide education as well as technical skills. New development projects offered them employment opportunity.
The situation has changed now. With the dissolution of parliament, the country is running without popularly elected bodies and there is no one to effectively raise the voice and challenges of the youth. Disruptions of development works have limited the scope for the employment opportunities.
“Someone told us that the mayor and other ward chairmen have already resigned and we do not know whether our work will continue or not,”said Rai.
In the last three moths, the political agitation has changed the government and some agitators are still in the street demanding greater constitutional role. Interestingly, nobody is there to listen to the voices and complaints of the youth.
“I also went to demonstrations for a couple of days at the request of my former MP who said that they would bring peace in the country,”said Thapa. In the course of acute political instability, there is no one really interested to sort out the crisis of desperate youth.
As long as the politicians do not have to contest the elections, nobody needs to talk about the problems of the country.
Youths In Crisis
From the political change of 1990 to political instability of the last 14 years and eight years long Maoist insurgency, Nepal’s youth population between 10-19 have seen all kinds of extremism and destruction. In rural areas, the youth grew up amid a violent scenario and the youths in urban areas, too, have encountered a number of violent political agitations as well as frequent disturbances of normal life.
In most of the disturbances, these youths, knowingly or unknowingly, willingly and coercively, took part wasting their valuable productive period for the sake of nothing.
“This group of youth is like a wasted group since they have acquired no useful skills, they have socialized in an environment of violence and disturbance of all forms,”said Dr. Padma Lal Devkota, a development anthropologist. “This is a tragic loss for the country and society.”
From pelting stones at police and acquiring technical know-how to make improvised bombs and ammunition, this group of youth can be a long term burden for the country. This is also a ready-made force that can be exploited to trigger any kind of panic and violent moves.
“The behavior of youths depend upon when and how they socialize and what values and culture they inherit in the course of growing up,”said Dr. Nirajan Prasad Upadhyaya, a psychologist. “Though they are quiet and still obedient compared to the urban population, rural youths have also seen torture and violence of different forms, which are sure to have left a deep psychological imprint on their minds.”
Rural Nepalese society still follows the tradition as most of the children are grown up in extended families where a child can learn culture of accommodation. In urban nucleus families, there is hardly anybody to guide or instill such sense in children and youngsters. Besides, the penetration of the western television channels has raised the expectation of the youths whereas the rural youths do not have such exposure.
Thanks to the process of socialization, the rural youths are more loyal to their family, community and society than their urban counterparts.
Cheap Labor Force
There is a severe problem of unemployment. Media reports that uncertainty and conflict has necessitated significant numbers of “leaving”the labor force that is not counted as unemployed even though they are actually jobless. Nepalese aged between 15-29 years represent almost 26.97 percent of the population and constitute 14 percent of total labor force.
“Only 13 percent under this category live in urban centers indicating a high underemployment in the rural areas. These unemployed youths, who are the product of national politics, are undereducated, frustrated, restless, unhappy, sad, angry and disconnected from society’s mainstream. The population of 15-19 age groups has increased from round 9.6 million in 1991 to 12.3 million in 2001 with an annual growth rate of around 2.5 percent, just higher than the average annual population growth rate of the same period,”writes professor Dr. Bishwambher Pyakuryal in his book that analyzes the cost of insurgency. “The country has not been able to tap the vast labor force with tremendous production potential. It is sad to note that the employment dimension of poverty alleviation strategy has received inadequate attention even in the Tenth Plan document.”
Thanks to the burgeoning construction industry in the urban areas particularly in Kathmandu valley, a large number of rural youths have found employment opportunity here. But this is not adequate.
As a laborer, they earn around Rs. 100 (US$1.5.) a day. Although the government does not have any record regarding their numbers in the valley, it is estimated that more than 50,000 are currently working as such daily wage workers.
From construction laborers to sweepers and other agricultural workers, the youths who have migrated from remote parts of the country are the lifeline of Valley’s growing economic activities. With a population of 1.8 million (including floating population), the valley needs them as much as they need the valley.
“Since the rural areas where the bulk of population, as high as 53 percent, is below abject poverty receiving less than US$ 1 a day, underemployment is estimated to be rampant among more than 50 percent of economically active population. A majority of rural population does not have access to resources for their survival,”said professor Madan Kumar Dahal, who heads the Economics Department at Tribhuwan University. Had not the youth arrived to Kathmandu valley, there would have scarcity of labor forces turning the labor market most expensive.
Since there is no long-term projects right now, the rural youths’ employment opportunity is also bleak. “The present boom in construction industry will clash at any day,”said an economist. “We need to develop a long term strategy to employ the young labor force for the benefit of the country.”
Population Of Youth
According to the Ministry of Population and Environment, the age of over 23 percent or more than 5 million of population of Nepal is between 10-19 out of 23 million population. The population of 10-14 age groups comprise of 13.1 percent – or more than 2.5 million.
The rural population of age group 10-14 are mostly the students of lower secondary or secondary level. The study conducted by the Ministry of Education in 2002 showed that the net enrolment rate in the lower secondary level is 33 percent i.e. only a third of school going children for this level are attending schools. Despite a large increase in number of schools, number of children enrolled in these schools is still low indicating a high drop out and low percent graduating to lower secondary schools. Likewise, the primary level of education enrollment for girls is nearly 11 percent points lower than that for boys (28 percent Vs 39 percent).
The secondary level of education in Nepal comprises of grades 9 and 10. Like the expansion of primary and lower secondary level schools, there has been a substantial increase at this level as well. Because of high drop out rates at earlier grades as well as lower promotion rates, currently the net enrolment rate is only 20 percent.
The enrolment rate for the primary level of education is 80.4 percent and over all drop out rate in the primary level (up to grade 5) is around 17.7. In a country where the illiteracy is over 50 percent, studies have indicated that a large number of such population are youths of age between 14-19. Out of Nepal’s five million such population, less than 2 million population of the group have benefited from Nepal’s education system. Remaining population has either gone to foreign land for menial works or to migrate to urban centers for similar things.
“There is a greater rural/urban and gender disparity in school attendance. National budget disproportionately subsidizes public education for higher socio-economic groups since over 40 percent of the budget is devoted equally to the secondary and tertiary education level,”writes Dr. Pyakuryal.
Technical and Vocational Education
The government has started to run technical and vocational training for the young but it is out of reach of large number of needy population as it caters the services to only the urban population. Those people – who receive technical training — are eying the foreign employment opportunities.
Under the guidance of the Center for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT), different private institutions are running courses ranging from one month to ten month in various areas including plumbing, electricity, carpentry and other subjects. Directed to high school dropouts, this vocational training does not serve those who do not have any access to education at all.
Realizing the need to provide necessary opportunities to youth, the Tenth Plan has made certain programs directed at them. From education to other sectors, the Tenth Plan stresses on the need to generate employment opportunities.
“The tenth plan focuses more on generating rural employment opportunity. If the peace prevails, the situation will be much better,”said Dr. Shanker Sharma, vice chairman of the National Planning Commission. “Educating youths and providing them with employment opportunities is the most essential task.
Desperate and neglected, a large number of rural youths are marching towards urban areas in search of works. The time has come for political leaders to do something for them. As the country’s young population continues to increase, it needs to explore more productive areas to employ them.