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Despite some negative perception society have about the youth, it is a fact that the Ghanaian youth is a ‘force’ to reckon with.
Youth as a positive concept.
One common concept of youth is that, society views them as a metaphor of hope, change, and regeneration. Another contradictory image of youth is one of problems and instability. Whatever it is, the Ghanaian youth is a regenerative force in society and therefore all necessary mechanism should be put in place by all interested stakeholders for their development.
Like the person, they say society develops from its childhood, youth or primitive stage to its adults or civilized stage. This theory proposes that it is in the youth stage that the foundation for taking society to a higher stage of development is laid.
Failure for society or a nation to teach correct values and knowledge as well as empower the young, leads to them not being able to undertake their historic task of transforming a nation and this in turn can lead to the degeneration of society.
We hear politicians, government officials, policy makers in youth affairs, youth organizations always declaring that, the youth are the future leaders.
That is a fact, because the future of each country rests with the youth and their vision, commitment, enthusiasm and ability to manage change and grasp opportunities to fulfill their potential.
However are these just mere declarations or they are being supported by good policies and programmes to ensure its implementation and manifestation?
As we celebrate the national youth week, let us also reflect on these fundamental questions. Do we have a practical national youth policy in place to enhance youth development?
If any, is the policy being implemented for national development and is it addressing the numerous challenges the youth are facing? Can the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) be achieved fully without the participation of the youth?
The challenges young people are facing include; unemployment, health especially HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s), marginalization, taking part in decision making process, capacity building, empowerment etc
I believe these questions and challenges need to be looked at critically, if we ascribe to the fact that our youth are the future leaders.
Concluding remarks.
Although the youth sometimes create problems and a sense of instability, there is a positive aspect of their behavioral attitude the nation can tap and utilize because they are agents of change in any society. My final assertion is that young people may be both marginalized in society and yet central to its development. What we need not to forget is that, the Ghanaian youth are absolutely critical in the maintenance of current social structure. It is mainly their potential labour, which will provide the wherewithal to finance that structure and therefore they must be empowered to fulfill the dream.
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