As we write this column, pupils are currently wrapping up their year-end exams in their pursuit for education that should change their lives for better in the future.

We have emphasised the importance of education before and we will continue to encourage pupils and other citizens in their adulthood to take education seriously and see hope in it as the key to open doors, despite the problems currently affecting the economy of the country.

The shrunken economy has heavily impacted on the job market, reducing employment prospects while driving retrenchments into uncontrollable spin. This has inevitably led some students and graduates into despondency, setting in the negative feeling among young people that reading for a qualification is pointless as there would be no job at the end of it all.

Be that as it may, there's no end to possibilities that education can bring to those who acquire it. So, we encourage young people to continue being focused on their studies, and leave the work of fixing the country, and therefore the economy, in the hands of those designated to do so.

It is therefore encouraging that we have people like taxi driver Nkazimulo Khumalo, who five years ago, at the age of 24, decided that he wanted more than what he was doing for a living.

The Johannesburg-based young man from Estcourt in KZN registered for a teaching degree with the University of South Africa, using his earnings to pay for his studies.

It was never easy for Khumalo, given that he had more mouths to feed back home, and the punishing schedule of his work which forced him to study at the taxi rank. Khumalo is described as humble, and that's one of the values of life young people today seem to have lost.

Patience and humility are key in working yourself up, and we want to commend Khumalo to be the living prove of that.

It is with dismay that we note how the youth of today find it easy to drop the ball and look for short cuts in life. Studies by relevant authorities indicate that the trend is at a higher rate among boys and young males, as they tend to drop out more and chase fun times even when opportunities to study and achieve are available.

Bravo to Khumalo for changing that narrative.