What next after high school? A rhetorical question that leaves many youth who just cleared high school in a dilemma, not knowing where to start from or what to do next as young adults. The youth constitutes 70% of the world’s total population, and that makes them a very vital group in any given society. At Elimu, helping children and youth live life to the fullest has always been our solely purpose. These youth are no longer leaders of tomorrow, but leaders of today and guiding them to the right path should be a key role.
We had our very first youth forum in December 2018 and this year it was even bigger and better. On Dec. 5, 2019 we held our 2nd edition Youth Info Forum which turned out to be a big success. The forum was a whole day event that ran from 9:00am to 5:00pm with various activities taking place. We had the morning session which was occupied by various rotational talks that were happening concurrently. The talks included, Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement System (KUCCPS), High Education Loans Boards (HELB), Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) and Universities options and applications, Cisco Networking Academy and the Blue Economy, the trending topic in the globe as at now. All these topics were aimed at guiding the youth, especially the form four leavers in order to enable them to progress to higher education and help them pursue courses that will suit their future careers.
Among the comments from youth:
“We need more forums like this one to learn the things we need to know and express ourselves.”
The afternoon session was dedicated to our very special guests and group discussions among the youth. They had a chance to discuss various questions on innovation and technology, universities and vocational training institutions, and were able to air their views and thoughts to the guests. Among the invited guests were, James Gachari, Fund Manager from HELB, Raphael Obonyo, UN Advisor, Hital Muraj from Cisco Networking Academy, Maureen Mwangovya, Kilifi County youth and gender executive and her health counterpart Dr. Anisa Omar. H.E. Lisa Stadelbauer, Canada’s High Commissioner to Kenya was our guest of honor and she came precisely for the opportunity to engage with Malindi youth and she was an enthusiastic participant during the group discussions.
The event was one to reckon with as it hit the headlines on various leading Kenyan national television stations and newspapers. Check the links below:
– The Star
– Video 1
– Video 2
– The Star [Blue Economy]
– KBC [Blue Economy]