Paid internships the way to go
29 January 2019 | Columns
The jobless rate among young Namibians has fast degenerated into a crisis, given the fact that almost half of the country's youth are without jobs.
The sad reality is that a university degree or diploma no longer holds the promise of landing that much-needed job. Many unemployed graduates are drowning in their own miseries and only have desperate tales to tell at the moment.
While it is true that the economic downturn has resulted in an employment crisis, we are yet to see a substantive plan to get our economy growing and ultimately creating much-needed jobs. A huge proportion of young Namibians can simply not find employment or earn a living, given the current economic conditions and the lack of a substantive plan to create sustainable jobs. However, we must be thankful to organisations like MTC who have initiated an internship programme to assist graduates with placements across various sectors of our economy. The MTC Namibia National Internship Programme will see the telecommunications company getting at least 160 students placed on job attachments.
The interns will get N$3 000 per month over a period of three months to cover essentials such as transport and living expenses.
“It will be impossible for MTC to accommodate 160 students per year at our workplace and we are thus looking for likeminded Namibian corporates to take in some students by providing them with three-month internships,” MTC executive Tim Ekandjo was quoted as saying. MTC surely must be commended for taking the lead and for portraying a caring attitude.
Our sincere hope is that corporate Namibia will heed this call and follow suit, by also committing to help the less-privileged in society.
Although times are tough everywhere, young students see these jobs as their livelihood and local companies should be proud to offer them paid internships. We should all help and chip in where we can, because it makes absolutely no sense to have productive young people sitting idle and leading miserable lives in our communities.
The sad reality is that a university degree or diploma no longer holds the promise of landing that much-needed job. Many unemployed graduates are drowning in their own miseries and only have desperate tales to tell at the moment.
While it is true that the economic downturn has resulted in an employment crisis, we are yet to see a substantive plan to get our economy growing and ultimately creating much-needed jobs. A huge proportion of young Namibians can simply not find employment or earn a living, given the current economic conditions and the lack of a substantive plan to create sustainable jobs. However, we must be thankful to organisations like MTC who have initiated an internship programme to assist graduates with placements across various sectors of our economy. The MTC Namibia National Internship Programme will see the telecommunications company getting at least 160 students placed on job attachments.
The interns will get N$3 000 per month over a period of three months to cover essentials such as transport and living expenses.
“It will be impossible for MTC to accommodate 160 students per year at our workplace and we are thus looking for likeminded Namibian corporates to take in some students by providing them with three-month internships,” MTC executive Tim Ekandjo was quoted as saying. MTC surely must be commended for taking the lead and for portraying a caring attitude.
Our sincere hope is that corporate Namibia will heed this call and follow suit, by also committing to help the less-privileged in society.
Although times are tough everywhere, young students see these jobs as their livelihood and local companies should be proud to offer them paid internships. We should all help and chip in where we can, because it makes absolutely no sense to have productive young people sitting idle and leading miserable lives in our communities.
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