Invest in young people, government urged

Unless government makes radical changes in the education sector, the country is in danger of missing out on its key targets of transforming the country into a middle income country.

Presenting a paper at the launch of the National Youth Policy, Private Sector Foundation Uganda CEO, Gideon Badagawa said Uganda should put more resources in education in the foundation year (0-5year) as this is important in intellectual development of quality children.

"In many countries that have developed, there is a lot of investment in this age group because this is where 90% of brain development occurs. But here, the government has for years put more emphasis on secondary and primary level education," he said.

The youth striking at the launch of the National Youth Policy

He said many entrepreneurs are finding many of the country's youth unemployable because the youth have poor attitude to work and many are rebellious.    

"You don't go to primary or secondary school to learn to compete, to share or to learn how to love work; these are all taught in the foundation years," he said.

The event for launch of National Youth policy was held at Serena Hotel under the theme: "Mindset change; a prerequisite for attaining a middle income status."

However, the event came to a premature end after a group of angry youth disrupted the function which was attended by a number of government ministers and delegates from international bodies, including United Nations.

Among other reasons, the youth protested the failure for the President Yoweri Museveni to show up at the event yet he had been drafted in the day's programme as the chief guest.

The youth also said they are unsatisfied about not being consulted when the government was compiling the National Youth Policy.

The National Youth Policy identifies the key areas in which action is required, and areas where not enough is being done, in order to enable youth development and to provide a framework for action for all stakeholders.