Political pundits and educators eye summer internship for possible youth voters with suspicion, believing an election will be called soon
Political watchdogs are discrediting a plan by the Cabinet to create a summer
internship programme that will target 150 youth between 17 and 19 years
old, and calling it an inducement to vote.
According to the Cabinet Notes of Thursday, June 13, these young people “will
have an opportunity to earn a stipend during the summer and to learn new
skills that will strengthen their employment chances, following graduation
from high school.”
One educator tells REAL News this is “ridiculous” and wants to know “where
Education Minister stands in this.” She asks which skills, specifically –
whether technical or academic – are being targeted; where the internships are
to be served; and how the young people will be selected.
“If this internship was well meant, it should have been laid out since the Third
Term began, at the latest,” the teaching veteran says. “Not now that schools
are a couple weeks away from closing.
“If we had known earlier, teachers would have been able to identify the
students who could benefit the most from such a programme. Unless, this is
another case of ‘check your minister,” she says.
Political pundits note that the age group is “ripe for picking” in the next
General Election, which some believe could be called later this year, right after
the expired voter-identification cards have been replaced.
They are betting, too, that a significant number of those selected for the
internship – if it comes off – will be residents of the constituencies the Antigua
Labour Party lost, or came close to losing, in the January 2023 elections. “First
up: Let’s look and see how many of them get picked from St. Phillip North,”
one observer says.
In the meantime, a United Progressive Party (UPP) official says the Cabinet is
contradicting itself.
“On one hand, the Government is boasting that unemployment is at its lowest
and economic growth has reached new highs,” she says; “but this internship
scheme confirms that there are hundreds and hundreds of unemployed young
people out there.
“We will be happy if these young people are afforded the opportunity to train
and hone a skill, but they also need to remember that, up to now, and despite
promises made before the last two elections, there are hundreds of persons
who remain on the Job Programme years after they started.
“Everything this administration does is calculated to help it remain in power;
it’s never about the people,” she warns. “They’ve got money to induce young
voters, but, up to now, the Boys Training School cannot be opened.”