YOUTH POLICY

Youth and employment

The government aims to reduce the number of school dropouts. Unemployed youth do not receive benefits until they are 27 years old; instead, they are offered a combination of work and education by their municipality.

Young people in The Netherlands are obliged to attend school until they are 18 years old, or have achieved a starting qualification (a mbo2 or a havo-/vwo secondary school diploma).

Restrictions on working under 18

Young people under the age of 18 years are restricted in the types of work they are allowed to do. There is also a legal limit on the number of hours they are allowed to work per day. Internships, vacation jobs and part-time work are allowed within these limits.

Youth unemployment

During times of economic crisis such as currently, young people are especially vulnerable. Bringing down youth unemployment is therefore an important goal of the Dutch government. This is achieved by on the one hand taking measures to avoid school dropout. On the other hand, programmes have been set up to encourage unemployed youths to receive further education, for instance in the form of on-the-job experience.

Reducing the number of school drop-outs

The School Ex-programme aims to decrease the amount of school dropouts, especially among participants of mid-level vocational studies (mbo). Mbo graduates with moderate to poor job perspectives are encouraged to enrol in further studies, to increase their chances on the job market. Alternatively, they can get on-the-job training, also increasing their chances of quickly finding work.

Better prospects for unemployed youth

The rate of youth unemployment varies strongly between different parts of the country. The government has therefore chosen a regional approach, where local municipalities along with schools, knowledge centres and the Uitkeringsinstantie Werknemersverzekeringen (link) (UWV), responsible for paying out benefits to the unemployed) cooperate to create job experience schemes, internships and to match companies looking for employees with potential candidates. This gives young people much-improved prospects on the job market.

No benefits for unemployment youth

Young people under the age of 27 do not receive unemployment benefits. Instead, the Investing in Youth Act obliges municipalities to offer them work or further education. If the young person chooses further education, he or she is paid a benefit (in Dutch: Bijstand) comparable to what the long-term unemployed receive.

Quotes For Youth

We live in an age when to be young and to be indifferent can be no longer synonymous. We must prepare for the coming hour. The claims of the Future are represented by suffering millions; and the Youth of a Nation are the trustees of Posterity

Quote About Youth

Youth, large, lusty, loving -- Youth, full of grace, force, fascination. Do you know that Old Age may come after you with equal grace, force, fascination?

What is youth participation?

Youth participation is often used interchangeably with the term 'active involvement'. This means more than simply taking part in an activity. It refers specifically to the involvement in the process of identifying needs, exploring solutions, making decisions and planning action within communities and organisations that seek to support civil society.
In relation to young people, youth participation is often regarded as the involvement of young people in decisions that are made that affect them. However many people believe that young people should be treated as citizens now (as opposed to the citizens of the future) and should be involved in all decisions that are made about the community and society in which they live.

Why have youth participation?

These are the most commonly stated reasons for involving young people actively in decision-making:

• it is young people's right to be involved and have their voice heard in decisions that will impact on them. This right is enshrined in the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, article 12;
• participation of all citizens is essential to a healthy democratic society. This obviously includes the participation of young people. This is a particularly relevant reason given the context of declining engagement of young people with traditional political processes (only 39% of young voters going to the polls in 2001);
• improved, better targeted and more effective services and projects. By involving young people in the planning and management, services can remain relevant and effective as they are based on young people's reality as opposed to a professional's perceptions; and
• skills development for young people. Young people (in fact any people) can gain a huge amount of confidence from seeing their opinions and experiences valued and directly contribute to positive change in their community. Many skills are also developed which can directly lead to improved educational performance and better prospects of gaining employment in the future.

What role can voluntary organisations play?

Here are two main ways in which voluntary organisations can encourage youth participation:

• internally, ensuring that young people are listened to and involved in decision making and planning within their own organisations; and
• externally, supporting the young people that they work with to engage with public decision making and address issues that are of concern to them.

This is a particularly relevant role for voluntary organisations as they often have an established relationship of trust with the young people which is an essential basis upon which to explore these issues. Secondly, they have an independence from government which can be useful when supporting young people to take forward controversial issues.

Roles of youth in the society

The young generation occupies a special place in social environment. It is very much part of society. The young and rising generation constitutes a representative of the future in the broadest sense; the future of any society depends on the practical and spiritual molding of the youth.

All societies pay special attention to the youth. No revolution can be victorious without the effective education, organisation and mobilisation of the youth into political action. It is none other than the youth (especially the working youth) who form the core of the ‘political’ and ‘military’ armies of the revolution.
Their youthful energy enables them to perform great feats in the theatre of battle; enables them to be the most active transmitters of ideas and skills; their zeal spreads into their surroundings like wild-fire. The youth acts as the motive force of the revolution.
The working youth forms the most consistent and reliable section of the revolutionary movement ‘and when they join the struggle of the working class, they fight for their own cause, and grow and become stronger in the struggle’.
The links they have with the most advanced and revolutionary class, their common class interests and objectives with the working class as a whole, accords the working youth a leading position in the revolutionary youth movement.
We always need to examine the revolutionary potential of the working youth on the basis of a comprehensive and profound study of their socio-economic, legal and political status. Consideration should be given to the fact that their involvement in large-scale capitalist production is a historically proven phenomenon.
It brings them face to face with their oppressors and this teaches them excellent lessons in class education.
Historically the section of student youth has been the organised and dynamic social force. The student youth have and continue to contribute and participate in the revolutionary struggle of our people.
It is correct to recognise the necessity for students to organise themselves as students and to define their sector of struggle against the common enemy
As an integral part of society, the youth section is charged with the specialised task of fulfilling the strategic objectives of the movement with the greater involvement of the youth. It has the responsibility of organising, mobilising and guiding all our youth into participation in the revolutionary struggle of our people.
It does not act as a separate organism but as a reliable reserve and shock force of the movement. Since the growth of the nation lies in the recruitment of new forces, mostly young, the youth section should act as a nursery of the revolutionary upbringing of those who come into the movement.
The youth in our country, like young people everywhere in the world, are searching for genuine ideals and values which they can live by, and for revolutionary ways to win them. Thus the Freedom Charter has become deeply rooted in the hearts of our youth.
Their involvement in mass democratic political actions and quest for revolutionary theory and grasp for the primacy of organisation, are features characteristic of the process of involving our youth in struggle. These are due to the objective conditions under which they mobilise, organise and fight.
The subjective factor is equally significant: the correct ideological and political orientation of the youth, the ability of the movement (and in particular the youth section) to impart to the protests by the youth a conscious and organised nature. Our ability to educate them in a genuine revolutionary spirit is a key factor.
The future of any movement or nation is dependent also on the integration of the youth in the political and other social activities. The grooming of those who have to ensure that the genuine aspirations of the people are fully realised demands a conscious effort on the part of the revolutionary movement.
The inexperience of the young provides the opportunity for a systematic process of political upbringing. This involves bold decisions in giving heavy responsibilities to the youth. We correctly say the future is in their hands.