If i can simply quote the introductory commentary on the movie "Gods must be crazy" to begin my evaluation on the current struggles and future bleak outlook of youths in PNG. The commentator of the movie says "We have created a complex world in which we sent our children to school to spend half of their life trying to adjust and live in this complicated world that we created". Education has become a neccessity for the young generation to survive in the complicated world we created.

From hunter gatherer to subsitance farming to trying to live in a superficial man made environment, children and youths of today need to be trained to survive in this complicated new environment called the modern world. Apparently, this brings challenges, because the systems have been designed to weed out the below average and reward the best. So what happens to the below average, in a complicated world that we have created? This question drives me into discussings the youth issues affecting PNG.

There are what they called, youth policies in Papua New Guinea, but those policies are mere ink on paper with no real guidelines to dictate actual progress in the lifes of youth. The Education system is designed in a way, that those below average students are pushed off from year 10 and 12. Those that are pushed off the eduction system tend to feel rejected and find pleasure in involving themselves in crime etc.

The current trend of young children (as young as 12 y.o) begging on the streets are a worry. So where did the government go wrong in its policy decisions. I dont think it is so much as to do with policy decisions, it is rather putting money where the mouth is. There has not been any subtantial allocation to address this issue. If the current trend continue, and more kids beg on the street, for sure they will grow up with nothing to fall back on. These kids have been raised up in the city and they dont have any survival skills in the rural areas. Kids who are raised up in the rural areas can survive without money, and can live out of subsistence farming, while kids who grow up in the city dont know how to survive in the village, hence their dependence is on money.

WIth no constant income, they have to resort to crime or petty theft for survival. The current trend of crime is becoming so complicated, as children who are pushed out of the school system, have no way to hanger their lives up, consequently having more time at their hands to become more creative in commiting crimes.

Recently, crime in PNG has taken a different trend, hijacking of planes, holding hostages and demand ransome, etc. These crimes were never heard of in PNG. With even university graduates out of job in the country, young people are fighting for survival. In PNG, youths feel, they have been let down by the government of the day. They can see the rich folks living in high fenced apartments with security guards manning their residence on a 24 hour basis, and driving around in the latest car models, straight from Japan. It is rather a irony to see such a big gap in the standard of living.

The rich had become rich out of Papua New Guineas riches. From Gold, Oil, Copper, Coffe, Palm Oil, Copra, Marine products and logging. Such riches from this raw material exports have been plundered by a few who have become rich overnight at the expense of the poor. Such has been the story for PNG for a long time. When about 10 percent of the population consume 90 percent of resources, you would expect to see 90 percent of the population who are dependent upon 10 percent of the resouces bound to scrap through most of the time.

Such a social ill existed in the world before, and it has repeated itself in some of the developing countries in the world, especially, Papua New Guinea, some African countries and Latin American countries. So, the youths of today dont have a voice to speak out about their rights to education and other benefits from income generated in the country.

If most of the resources are plundered today by the current generation, there will be nothing left for the future generation. PNG faces a crisis in trying to accomodate youths who have been pushed off by the education system.

I hope a government with vision to set the pace, to look at current needs at the same time plan for the future generation.