Opinion | Asian youth, hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, should have a voice to decide their future

Name: Covid-19 pandemic clouds future for Hong Kong’s university Class of 2020
Uploaded: 2021-10-08T22:45:18.000Z
Duration: 7 min 46 s
Description: Covid-19 pandemic clouds future for Hong Kong’s university Class of 2020

Young people are struggling with online schooling, a volatile job market and mental health challenges

Some have chosen to speak up to help their communities. This should be encouraged by giving youth opportunities to engage in policymaking

Reading Time:3 minutes

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Young people wait for a ride at a public transport stop in Quezon City, the Philippines, on November 10, 2020. Youth unemployment in the country hit 22 per cent last year. Photo: EPA-EFE

Laura GuayandDavid B. Young

Published: 6:45am, 9 Oct 2021Updated: 7:40am, 9 Oct 2021

Like many of her generation, Pauline Mandrilla, a 23-year-old civil engineer from Manila, suddenly found herself jobless when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Mandrilla felt like a statistic, as she joined the ranks of some 22 per cent of unemployed Philippine youth affected by the pandemic’s economic fallout.

“During the onset of the pandemic, we were placed in a no-work, no-pay situation,” Mandrilla recalled. “My previous job heavily relied on my being physically present on a construction site, but because of the quarantine restrictions, which halted public transportation in my region, I couldn’t go to work.”

Mandrilla’s story is familiar to many youth throughout East and Southeast Asia. Often regarded as the most “connected” generation in history – a reference to their ability to partake of global developments through the internet – young people in the region aged 15 to 30 are nonetheless grappling with a “new normal” amid the pandemic.

While those without internet access have been left behind during the shift to online learning, others have found self-directed learning a huge challenge.

Recent graduates who were able to successfully navigate these online complexities are now discovering even greater hurdles in one of the most volatile job markets in history. The current youth unemployment numbers in Singapore and South Korea, which in both countries exceeds 10 per cent, provide clear indicators of this bracing reality.

07:46

Covid-19 pandemic clouds future for Hong Kong’s university Class of 2020

Perhaps even more troubling are the impacts of the pandemic on mental health. The uncertainty of the job market, combined with the isolation of online learning and the everyday threat of getting sick, have created negative, long-term impacts on the mental health of the region’s youth.

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