Hopes and Dreams of Under-Privilege Youth
By
Sadia Wali
"Our youth are not failing the system; the system
is failing our youth. Ironically, the very youth who are being treated the
worst are the young people who are going to lead us out of this nightmare." Rachel Jackson
In this era of globalization and technological
revolution, education is considered as a first step for every human activity.
It plays a vital role in the development of human capital and is linked with an
individual’s well-being and opportunities for better living (Battle &
Lewis, 2002). It ensures the acquisition of knowledge and skills that enable
individuals to increase their productivity and improve their quality of life.
This increase in productivity also leads towards new sources of earning which enhances
the economic growth of a country (Saxton, 2000)
The future of youth is directly related to the
educational opportunities, economic conditions and sustainability of the
individuals in our country. Young people
of well-off families have resources and means to avail the best opportunity to
enhance their learning. But have we ever thought about the plight of the young
people of low income families, residing in the underdeveloped areas? The talent
of these youth has been crushed due to limited resources, inequities in social,
economic and political conditions; gender discrimination; unemployment; armed
conflict and confrontation. Due to prevailing injustice, young people living in
underdeveloped or remote areas have been indulged in anti- social activities.
They often become disillusioned, indulge in drug usage and even resort to
criminal activities.
“Deep resentment built up in me when I was deprived of
a job opportunity for the third time when I disclosed that I dwell in one of
the under- privilege areas of Karachi .i.e.
Lyari. As I began job hunting, I felt all my hopes shattered and crushed,
I have no faith in the justice of this country. Wide spread racism
and discrimination has created despair, defeat, despondency and hopelessness in
young people, young man grumbled.
During the last decade, there has been an
unprecedented increase in the crime, violence and terrorism activities;
majority of these activities are carried out in underdeveloped areas. One of
the major reasons for this growing deterioration in law and order situation in
Pakistan is the disengagement of young people.
To engage youth in constructive and productive tasks, Non-
profit organizations in Karachi have taken initiatives to impart skills and
knowledge to youth of under-resourced areas such as Lyari and Korangi. They
have empowered youth by engaging them in inventive projects to develop values
and beliefs and develop a positive frame of mind. Their aim is to train youth in conflict
prevention and management, civic engagement and community mobilizations.
The urgent need of time is to facilitate our youth;
Karachi Youth Support Network in collaboration with other NGOs and private organization
started facilitating youth from Korangi, Saddar and Kemari and now they have
expanded the scope of its activities to Lyari and Sultanabad. They also plan to
execute their plans to other under- resource areas of Karachi. Up till now more
than 300 energetic youth of Lyari, have been provided
opportunities of their interests by KYSN.
“Learn, Lead, and Prevent opines a young teacher,
residing in Lyari (Karachi) .He thinks that from the tender age of eight to ten
years, our children see anger and violence all around and think violence is the
only way to survive. On grounds of gang allegiance, language, ethnicity or
religion, what they do best is fight! Since we have no prospect of getting good
quality education, our youth remain disoriented.” I believe that through better
employment opportunities and community service, the youth have the power to
bring a real change in the impoverished and strife-hit neighborhood of Lyari”
Young people of Lyari, Korangi and Sultanabad are
extremely talented and have capacity to improve their lives. Being part of the
facilitators at a training workshop, titled ‘Peace and Tolerance ‘conducted by
KYI and Teachers Development Centre, I got the opportunity to interact with the
dynamic teachers of those areas. The aim of the workshop
was to cultivate positive aspirations in young people; young teachers felt a
unique and life-changing experience which paves the way towards improving their
professional skills.
It was heartening to see young jubilant and energetic
individuals attending the workshop. Young boys and girls aged between 18 and 30 are passionately coming
forward to act as agents for social change, economic development and
technological innovation and I really
felt young people’s participation is valuable to raise up the standard of
education.
My conversation with the teachers regarding their
participation in peace-building training initiative showed that they had high
purposes in life. Mostly young teachers especially women face
hardships and problems such as limited transport options, family restrictions
and other social norms yet; it is encouraging to see them determined and firm.
As one participant in the workshop said, “Work hard,
aim high and stay committed to your goals!”
Another opined, “It is our right to get exposure to
activities that encourage our imagination, ideals, energy and vision to
flourish to the benefit society and our educational institutions.”
“I am very much impressed by this session and had good
learning. This type of innovative workshops should be conducted to build up the
better future of our teachers. Thank you for creating awareness and
waking up us and put us on a right direction” an enthusiastic comment of a
participant.
Another reflection that touch my heart was, “Our area
is portrayed by media as a place where criminal gangs roam the streets, and it
is the reason that it is backward and regressive as compared to other sections
of the city. With NGO’s support, we intent to get engaged in constructive tasks
that mobilize young individuals, instill a passion to excel and achieve
excellence.”
These are the desires and aspirations of our future torchbearers.
Youth of under – privilege areas are exceptionally talented, they
are capable of working wonders; the need is to channelize their talent into
right direction.
The young blood of underprivileged areas needed a
platform to learn necessary skills for standing parallel in the society.
Engagement in constructive activities will empower them and ultimately leads
this young energetic blood towards achieving their positive aspirations
.
It is an irony that we as citizens do not seriously
think about facilitating young individuals of low income families also the,
government has turned a blind eye to their needs and to their problems. Our
politicians and policy makers have no understanding about the consequences of
ignoring young people. If there are any efforts underway, they are merely up to
organizing seminar or workshops or passing rules, practical steps are always missing
from the government's strategies. Private sector and NGO’s have undertaken
target oriented programs for youth development, providing opportunities to
young people to explore and realize their potentials, educate and guide them against
terrorism and inhuman activities.
We cannot think
of any development, prosperity and progress without the engagement and
contributions of young people .Time has come for us to seriously ponder over
it.
It is rightly said,
‘The Youth of a Nation are the trustees of posterity’
(Benjamin-Disraeli)
The
article has been written by Sadia Wali while attending the training program
titled, ‘Training for Peace and Tolerance’ a program organized to train teachers
of three areas of Karachi (Lyari, Korangi and Sultanabad).The training workshop
was organized in collaboration with Karachi Youth Initiative (KYI) and Teachers
Development Centre (TDC) The workshop was attended by 304 teachers of these
three areas. The workshop had eleven training sessions which began from 23rd of
February and successfully concluded on 22nd of April 2015
Sadia
Wali is a Research Assistant at Teachers Development Centre. She can be
contacted at sadiawali@hotmail.com
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