I think they should be replaced by paid internships. One thing we would hope to see is employers becoming more involved in that sort of thing.
This isn't directly an internship, but just to give you an example, at the Canadian Teachers' Federation every summer we hire a co-op program student. One thing we became aware of this year was that there were a number of students for whom the program was seeking positions but for whom there were no employers available or willing to take them. We received repeated requests, although we had taken a student already.
It seems to me that those kinds of opportunities for young people need to be available. In my experience from the programs that we have at the secondary level in school, whereby students are participating in work experience kinds of programs, the employers usually are very pleased with the work the students do. To participate in those programs is great experience for the students. It often leads to employment for them, and generally it creates a lot of excitement among young people too, particularly those looking for trades education.
So I would suggest paid internships.