Teenagers: Social burden or social capital?

Teenage problems never cease. Just mentioning a few would be enough to make social workers and the government panic.

Drug abuse at rave parties and teenage suicide is just the tip of the iceberg. According to statistics provided by Hong Kong Police, 12,524 juveniles were arrested in 1999. Among juvenile crimes, there were 7,410 woundings and serious assaults and 2,575 missing vehicles reported.

Another statistic from the Central Registry of Drug Abuse showed that in the first two quarters of 2000, 49.6 percent of newly reported drug users were under 21. About 55 percent of drug users abuse drugs simply to avoid the discomfort of its absence.  In other words, they are addicted. Another 35 percent is due to peer influence.

Reports in 1999 have shown that one out of 10 teenagers has thought of committing suicide. And Hong Kong parents talk less than 10 minutes with their children each day.

What do all these numbers mean? Pools of neglected teenagers “grow” in whatever way they find a meaning or security to satisfy their frustrated psychological being.

When most people’s New Year wishes include hope for economic recovery, wage increases, and full employment, do they know that they have to pay an even higher price for unaddressed teenage problems in the near future?

The root of the problems with youth is the lack of problem-solving skills, direction and guidance. In 2000, 456 school social workers served 449 secondary day schools, meaning that each secondary school has one social worker. The 9-year compulsory education cannot train independent individuals, but produces a mass of frustrated students every year. The Education Department has to address this problem and to improve the quality of education rather than to quantify education.

School leavers join the work force, re-equip themselves in training schools or hang around in the streets. But without working experiences, not many employers are willing to employ them. Even if they re-equip themselves by joining programmes like The Young Pre-Employment Scheme, only about 40 percent of trainees find jobs successfully. The government announced in December 2000 that it would accept the full Project Springboard certificates as meeting the entry qualifications for appointment to government jobs requiring five passes in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination. However, this pacifying act may not gain the acceptance of employer groups, which results in limited effects in helping unemployed youth. To ensure employment for these trainees, the courses provided must be practical and useful enough to meet employers’ demands.

To solve the problems of teenagers hanging out in the streets, the government has increased the number of outreach social workers from 18 to 21 among the eight outreach social work teams. But in the face of thousands of youths at risk, these numbers are far from significant.       Only if these idlers knew their direction in life would there be a solution to this problem. The number of outreach social workers must be increased tremendously to bring these idlers home and to guide them from going astray. Encouraging idlers to participate in sports and cultural activities that  meet youngsters’ interests would be another way to help them find goals in life. Along with these measures, sufficient parental guidance will slow down the snowballing of the problems of teens.

Chan Siu Sin
Editor-in-Chief

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