ATTITUDES OF SECONDARY SCHOOL LEAVERS TOWARDS MANUAL WORK: IMPLICATIONS FOR YOUTH EMPLOYMENT IN BOTSWANA

Abstract

The importance of generating opportunities for citizens to participate in the development of self and country cannot be exaggerated. Employment is usually the main way in which people contribute to the economic growth of a country. Work is an essential part of human life that helps in determining, among other things, one‟s social status. Therefore, it is important that at a certain stage in life one should acquire a job. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) (2008) notes that at some point in their lives youths will enter the world of work as a path toward social integration and as a means to earn an income. Youth unemployment has progressively emerged as a major problem in many developing countries and the world at large. For many youths entry into the labour market comes directly after completing school, depending on the schools‟ exit points of the particular country. Botswana‟s Secondary School education, which is completed in five years, has two exit points. The Junior Certificate (JC) runs for three years, and those who do not pass exit after Form 3. The Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) takes two years and the exit point is Form 5 for those who do not qualify to proceed to the tertiary level.