Niue Youth and Employment

For many years much of our focus on youth and training and jobs have been largely focused on the top 10-20% of our school leavers and youth. Many years ago there were two streams established at NHS with the second group being given more practical training in Agric etc.
Many parents and students felt stigmatised by this and felt that they had a right to be given the same educational opportunities as all other students.
Therefore I believe the vocational classes and curricula was dismantled and all students were streamed into similar classes.
However the difference still exists and matters have not improved much over the years.
It is very important to realise that not everyone is equal at school. Even the top students have marked preferences. Some do not like maths Physics etc or English and avoid these subjects.
This is shows that every student has a preferrence and will find boring any subject they are not interested in!!
What we do recognise now is that each student has talents which can help him find a job, business, trade, sports, art, etc
This government is looking for a solution for creating opportunities for these school leavers so they can contribute to our scociety in the best way they can using their talents
I think it also helps to realise that what used to be considered as dirty jobs are now sought after because people have realised that they have expertise we dont have. And the fact that we pay highly for this expertise is a good thing
On monday 30th November I will be convening a meeting with youth school leavers to discuss their future options and provide opportunities for them to find jobs in the short or long term. I am openning the dicussion to include government and private sectors business and hope to have mentoring arrangements for these students in the first week and then place them in the second week. I hope we can pay them a flat rate of $5/hour to do work and help develop business idaes etc.
If you are interested pls be at the Fale Fono foyer on Monday 9 am