Abstract:
As a young person approaches their 18th birthday they should be faced with the excitement of completing their schooling and making decisions about their future educational and career paths. However, for the majority of young people in South Africa, turning 18 also comes rather with the realisation that they face a precarious future, with little support to enable them to effectively transition to further education or work. While the state invests heavily in the lives of children, there is far less support for young people. This has implications for how effectively young people can transition to autonomous adulthood and South Africa’s ability to realise the demographic dividend that should come as a result of a large youth population that is healthy and well-educated (Lin, 2012; Oosthuizen, 2013; Ssewamala, 2015).
