THE youth are the heritage of any society because they hold the key to the future. Our young ones have abundant energy that can be channelled into the productive endeavours of their communities.
However, recent reports of indiscipline on the part of a section of the youth give cause for worry in the light of the fact that the present generation will hand over all public affairs to the youth in due course.
The young people of today are faced with a lot of challenges, prominent among them being peer pressure, drug addiction, indiscipline, cyber fraud and unemployment.
During the era which is referred to as the ‘good old days’, every adult in the community had the responsibility to correct his or her neighbour’s child anytime the child went wayward. Unfortunately, today our society has also become very individualistic and nobody dares to bring any indisciplined child to order without incurring the wrath of his or her parents.
Even teachers who are supposed to help in the formation of the characters of our young ones are assaulted by some parents and relations of students whom they are to restrict within the ‘narrow path’ of discipline and societal norms. It should have dawned on us by now that we cannot build a strong and progressive society with an army of indisciplined youth.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, commends the organisers of this year’s New Year School and Conference for focusing attention on the youth with the theme, “Harnessing the power of the youth for accelerated development”.
There is no way the country can prosecute the agenda of accelerated development without the involvement of the youth because they constitute a very crucial human resource base.
The DAILY GRAPHIC calls on them to learn useful lessons from the admonition by the Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof Kwesi Yankah, that “if the raw energy and power of the youth should be unleashed, let it be let loose in the destruction not of property but of poverty in Africa. Let the youthful exuberance of the youth be galvanised not to seize toilets but the canker of illiteracy in society; let them seize it by the horn and kill it....”.
It is about time the youth resolved to fight against the challenges that are working to retard our development. Indeed, the DAILY GRAPHIC believes that if the youth come together to kick against the common enemies of illiteracy, diseases and poverty, the country may be on the path to accelerated development.
The youth should be interested in the future development of the country because that is the only guarantee that they can have a secure future. For, if they should take to the destructive path, vandalising everything in their way because of their disagreement with the status quo, they may grow up to meet a failed state that cannot meet their aspirations.
The President has in his team a crop of youthful ministers who have so far performed creditably. They have become role models and their achievements must inspire the youth to greater heights, in the hope that their hard work and perseverance will be duly recognised and rewarded in the not-too-distant future.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, however, calls for the creation of the enabling environment to help the youth contribute to nation-building. The National Youth Policy has well-thought out programmes for the youth and it is our fervent prayer that this year it will be operationalised to help the youth to achieve their ambitions.
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