Youth are an important resource and investment in them is crucial for the sake of the future of the country.

Main points:

• allow pupils to work or take a tertiary course/apprenticeship part time and attend school part time
• increase optional school leaving age to 21
• make 3 years of student allowance universal above the age of 21
• make a further two years of student allowance universal above the age of 30
  

Youth is defined here as persons between the ages of 16 and 28. Some people refer to children as young as 10 as youth. They are not included here because they are usually well within the care of parents/guardians and school.

Once adolescents have reached 16 then they are legally able to drive, have sex, are considered adults for fares and many other things. They are also well on their way to becoming independent of parents/guardians and school. Young adults up to the age of 28 are included because the transition known as adolescence is being stretched by social and technological change.

People in western societies are living longer because they are taking longer to develop in order to meet the challenges of a more complex and integrated world. It takes longer to learn skills to create and maintain modern goods and services, and it takes longer to develop emotionally and intellectually to be able to survive in the social world that those goods and services create.

Another seven year transition could be included from ages 28 to 35 before personality and capabilities become relatively stable, and remain with only small changes until about 65, after which capabilities and perspectives begin to change dramatically again.

Youth and the transition up to age 35 tends to be the period in which people create new realities, and age 35 to 65 tends to be the period in which they live them. After age 65 people become less able to see any alternative reality to the one they created and lived. During this period they are able to firmly establish their reality and it is used as a yard stick from which the new youth measure their own departure from tradition and re-creation of reality.

Attention needs to be paid to the 16 to 28 age group to enable successful transition into adulthood. In general youth need support and understanding of the work environment and career choice, social and emotional support, and recognition of the role they play in society.

Along with a school environment that is more attuned to the developmental needs of youth (see education policy), the transition between school and the workforce can be strengthened as follows:

• Enable some pupils to spend up to half their time on work experience and the other half studying at school.
• Increase the age at which pupils may stay at school to 20. This would have the following benefits:
• It would enable more pupils with literacy problems to overcome them.
• It would enable some pupils to work part time and stay at school part time, for longer.
• It would link up with the student allowance/unemployment benefit eligibility at age 21 (see next section).

Unemployment benefit: Raise the age of eligibility to the unemployment benefit to 21 years of age. Provide subsidies for employers to employ 18 to 20 year olds. This would help reduce benefit dependency by encouraging youth to have exposure to work environments at a young age. (Couples living in a defacto/marital relationship with one or more children in which neither partner is 21 or over would not be eligible, although either parent/guardian would be eligible for the DPB provided the partner lived somewhere else.)

Bring back universal student allowance with following provisos:

• Raise eligibility to age 21, in line with the unemployment benefit, and pay it at the same rate, with the same supplementary benefits.
• Provide 3 years’ assistance after age 21 sufficient for a degree.
• Provide a further 2-3 years’ assistance after age 30 for post-graduate or career change.

These changes would have the following benefits:

• Encourage youth to travel and/or work after leaving school to give them some life experience and help with making decisions about what course to take, before they embark on a costly tertiary programme.
• Encourage youth to be aware of possible career changes or retraining later in their life.
• Put student allowances in line with unemployment benefits in terms of eligibility and value. Both would be complemented by subsidies paid on behalf of 18 to 20 year olds to give them some work experience.
• Increase the average age of students at tertiary institutions thus increasing the average level of commitment and achievement. Those from well-to-do families or who are able to stay at home while they study would still be able to go straight into tertiary training. Those who are enterprising or who are definite about what they want to do, and want to get straight into tertiary studies could do so by working part-time and studying part-time or by taking out a student loan.

The current system of paying allowances based on parental income is flawed because:

Youth should not be paid according to the merits of their parents’ earning power. People should not be judged by their parents.
Family structures are changing so much that many students are able to pick and choose who their parents are for allowance purposes.
Age 24 is too old to be considered materially dependent on parents.

Student loan system to remain as it is without major change, except: 18 to 21 year olds should be given more education and advice and go through an approval process before being able to take out a loan.

Provide resources at a governmental level for youth to have access to improved guidance, counseling, and health services in local centres. This would include subsidies for all kinds of activities related to their development, such as vocational advice, counseling, and human development programmes.