Youth aspirations and expectations in Sri Lanka following economic liberalisation. Location study 6: Uddapuwa

Abstract

This is one of a series of reports examining shifts in the aspirations of youth for livelihoods, education and qualifications following the policies of economic liberalisation introduced from 1978. It examines shifts over time through comparisons of youth aspirations with the recollected aspirations of the youth’s parents. The study of aspirations is based exclusively on interviews with household members from different class groups. This report is on Udapuwwa, a predominantly Tamil rural village in the North Western Province of Sri Lanka.In Udapuwwa, livelihood activities are predominantly based on fishing, while some household members hold white collar jobs in government. Key findings from the surveys in Udapuwwa include: 63% of females are unemployed, compared with 16% of males more than half of parents have only primary-level education 81% of males aspired to university, compared with 46% of females of the 79% of young people with vocational aspirations, a third felt that even these aspirations were unattainable, due primarily to economic reasons though around 61% of young people aspired to government sector employment, nearly 58% of young people expected to be self-employed