Poor career education for in- school and out- of- school youth is one of the major factors responsible for unemployment and poor skills development in South Africa.  This point is emphasised in numerous high level policy documents including the National Development Plan (NDP) Research shows that less than 40% of `black’ school leavers go on to register for skills training or higher education courses after school. This is a major contributing factor why youth under the age of 30 make up the majority of the nation’s unemployed. Ironically, South Africa is a country with far more youth employment and training opportunities than the above figures suggest.

The main reasons these are not being pursued by young people are:

• Lack of school-based career information about training, financing and career information
• A poor understanding of their own career interests and possibilities
• Learners leave Basic Education with generally poor levels of numeracy, problem solving and literacy.
• A widespread `culture’ of dependency on government exists in South Africa. Far too many young people wait for the government to provide opportunities instead of seeking out those options for themselves.