Youth Aspirations and Expectations in Sri Lanka following Economic Liberalisation. Location Study 8: Park Estate

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 focuses on households in Park Estate, a private tea estate in the hill country of the Central Province in which the majority of the population is Indian Tamil.Key findings from Park Estate include: 53% of the sample population work on the estate 33% of females and 22% of males are unemployed the majority of young people aspired to professional or vocational employment. In the latter category, the vocation most often nominated by females was dressmaking, while males aspired to computing work 86% of young people desired work in the government sector. By contrast, only 3% aspired to estate work