Matheus Hangula
Graduating from university is one of the most joyful moments that every graduate will never forget in their lives, hoping that education has opened doors for opportunities and employment.
Yet, for many, graduation marks the beginning of prolonged job searching, travelling long journeys for interviews, rejection, and unemployment.
Graduating and not employed, or taking more than three to four years to secure a job, is one of the most frustrating experiences that many graduates are going through nowadays.
Unlike around 2000 until 2009, where I observed that you graduated and got a job the next day, things have now changed.
Besides, some graduates were self-funded, and their parents or guardians sacrificed their hard-earned income – slaughtering cattle that were meant to take care of the whole family – just to have their children educated.
The only perceived job creation in Namibia is when you hear that the ministry of home affairs, immigration, safety and security, the Namibia Defence Force, or Correctional Service is recruiting.
But we hardly hear of other ministry vacancies, apart from chief executive officers. The economy cannot benefit from an educated population if sufficient employment opportunities are not created in both the public and private sectors.
Some leaders have been pointing fingers at graduates, saying they have studied the “wrong” professions. There is no such thing – graduates study what they love, and every profession is important and needed.
Even therapists are important. So the narrative of saying graduates studied wrong professions is merely words of discouragement, pushing people to study courses not of their interest due to public perception.
Another biggest problem, and I urge the public and private sectors to do away with, is the continued appointment or reappointment of retired individuals to positions that could also be filled by graduates who are roaming the streets with their qualifications.
When will graduates be given free and fair opportunities to prove themselves and perform to the best of their ability? Because relying heavily on retired professionals can reduce opportunities for younger qualified graduates to gain the work experience needed to build their careers.
One recent practical example is that of the Executive Director from the ministry of justice and labour relations appointed as chief executive officer of the Social Security Commission – a job that was supposed to be given to a young graduate.
Another issue that deserves public discussion is the experience required by employers. Would you find a company asking for three to five years of experience?
Imagine young graduates from universities being required to have such experience – where will it come from if it is their first time searching for a job?
The government must review that policy of experience and do away with it, so that graduates will be given equal opportunity to thrive without being subjected to many restrictions that make them unqualified for jobs.
Transparency in every recruitment is equally important. Every public vacancy or private vacancy, regardless of its level, should be openly advertised – even a senior executive position or a cleaner’s post at State House.
Every qualified Namibian should have an opportunity to apply, because we do not know how employees at State House got there. We do not know how employees at current and former presidents’ offices got there.
But they are all paid with taxpayers’ money, and people have the right to question it.
Graduates are unemployed not because they do not have skills. They are unemployed not because they are lazy.
They are unemployed because the state has decided not to create jobs, because the state has decided to appoint people from retirement age to come and take over jobs that were supposed to be filled by young graduates.
Graduate unemployment has implications for social and economic development. If the government does not employ appropriate mechanisms to minimise graduate unemployment, many skilled people will leave the country to go and get employed overseas and develop those countries, crime will increase, and it will lead to financial hardship.
Graduates need transparent recruitment, fair and equal opportunity. The government has all the resources to transform graduate unemployment from a persistent challenge into an opportunity for national growth and shared prosperity.
*Matheus Hangula is a writer and is currently conducting research on persistent unemployment among graduates in Namibia.
