Encouraging the students to think differently, she cited the problems to be addressed.
1. Increasing access to education which remains key to opportunity and the way out of poverty. She stressed the importance of making education accessible to women and girls.
2. Barriers: Financial, political, traditional, and logistical barriers to access need to be addressed.
3. Implying that education needs to prepare students for the jobs that are and will be there, she pointed out that six million in the 16-24 age group are unemployed accounting for 8% unemployment among those with a post-secondary degree and a startling 24% rate among those without a high school diploma.
4. Illustrating the importance of first jobs which, she told the audience, builds personal, professional, and logistical growth, she recounted her own first job as a park supervisor at 13. Working three mornings a week, she resorted to transporting her equipment via a wagon because her bike could not carry it.
5. She called youth unemployment in our country both corrosive and explosive as well as costly: $20 billion, and said the problem is even worse in other economies.
Setting these challenges before the audience, she called for respect for the dignity of all work and renewed value on vocational training. She told the audience that assuring that people can access the training for jobs is not the responsibility of a single sector but rather must be a cooperative effort among government, the private sector, academia, and NGOs.
In closing, she asked the audience to make good intentions good outcomes.
