One-third of Barbadian residents ages 10-24 are living in poverty, boys are underperforming at virtually all stages of education, and more than a quarter of the country’s murder victims are young.
These are the findings of a recent study conducted by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)’s Generation Unlimited study on the wellbeing of young people. Available data obtained by the UN body identified violence, poverty, and unemployment as three major issues currently affecting the country’s youth.
And, Minister of Youth and Constituency Empowerment Dwight Sutherland has promised further investigation by his ministry so the root causes of the issues can be addressed. He was speaking at the Launch of UNICEF’s Gen U Report at the Radisson Aquatica Hotel, Aquatic Gap, St. Michael today.
UNICEF Representative for the Eastern Caribbean Area Dr Aloys Kamuragiye revealed that of the 54,000 young people on island, “nearly all” school-aged children receive primary and secondary education while two-thirds of the others are either studying and/or working.
Dr Kamuragiye however noted that these statistics do not represent the whole story.
“Almost a third of young people in Barbados are living in poverty. While primary and secondary school attendance is high, there has been a decline in enrollments in post-secondary institutions,” the UNICEF representative revealed.
“Boys are underperforming at virtually all stages of education. Young people account for a quarter of murder victims, and half of perpetrators,” he added.
According to Kamuragiye, more ought to be done to nurture adolescents in particular, through the vulnerable stages of their lives.
“The evidence compels action, and this event today, as well as the Barbados Government’s commitment to youth development, is a good start,” he declared.
In his assessment of the report, Minister Sutherland noted with concern a high number of young males who are not successfully completing secondary level examinations along with a high number of children having sex and engaging in drug use.
He also pointed out that products of single-parent households were significantly more likely to be involved in gang and gun-related violence.
“The major factors identified as causes of juvenile crime include: peer pressure (65 per cent), materialism (34 per cent), lack of parental control (26 per cent), unemployment (14 per cent), drug abuse (98 per cent) absence of a role model (eight per cent),” Sutherland noted.
But he also pointed out that despite the negatives, the report concludes with optimism that the majority of young people will transition from childhood to adulthood successfully.
“I want to go further to suggest that these empirical data must be used to investigate and understand the etiology of social issues, in order that a framework for a coordinated intervention strategy can be provided to address the challenges affecting that vulnerable one-third of the youth population cited in the report,” the minister declared.
“As next steps, therefore, the data demonstrates that care and child protection issues must be on the policy agenda and early prevention programmes implemented to address the root causes of these challenges for this significant and vulnerable population,” Sutherland added.
The minister then pledged greater stakeholder collaboration with UNICEF to produce progammes for the advancement of Barbados’ youth development agenda.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb
