Muneeb Ahmad Reshi
“Good habits formed at youth make all the difference”, Says Aristotle
Kashmiri people, since ages, have outperformed in every field and had created legacy in different arenas like activism, administration, diplomacy, poetry, history, Sufism, philosophy, art and sports. But unfortunately, Kashmir has been excruciating the social turmoil and political disharmony since decades. And for that reason Kashmir is known as the most conflicted and highly agitated region. Every section of Kashmir across all age groups have endured and absorbed the socio-political impacts of such rough sleddings. But amongst all these sections the youth have become the prey for all of these obnoxious times remorselessly. The benchmark for the all-round prosperity of any society lies in its manipulative, innovative and productive youth but unfortunately our youth is still finding their way to withstand all their deflective psychological forces. If we take a look at recent statistical reports, we encounter that we have abundant human resource but there is a considerable breach in our tactics to utilize them in straight-laced way. The latest survey shows that the most productive age group of 15-39 years comprises 40% of our population. This report points towards the dire need of our society to gain from this profitable demographic dividend but unluckily, our management isn’t tackling this problem efficiently and have failed to unravel this great social, political and economic potential usefully hindering this from getting manifested. Hence the multipronged challenges that our society faces today cannot be divorced and envisaged differently from those faced by the youth and relevance of the youth potential must constantly remain a top priority. Our youth is lagging behind in different arenas where they should not lag and remain at par with excellence this is where the system has a positive and efficacious role to play. Youth empowerment examines six interdependent dimensions: psychological, community, organizational, economic social and cultural. Psychological empowerment enhances individual’s consciousness, belief in self- efficacy, awareness and knowledge of problems and solutions and of how individuals can address problems that harm their quality of life. This dimension yearns to create self-confidence and provide youth the skills to acquire knowledge. Community empowerment focusses on enhancing the community through leadership development, improving communication and channelizing a network of support to mobilize the community to address concerns. Organizational empowerment aims to create a base of resources for a community, including voluntary organizations, unions and associations that aim to protect, promote and advocate for the powerless. Economic empowerment teaches entrepreneurial skills, how to take ownership of their assets and how to have income security. Social empowerment teaches youth about social inclusion and literacy as well as helping kids find the resources to be proactive in their communities. Cultural empowerment aims to recreate cultural practices and redefine cultural rules and norms for youth. Through these dimensions of empowerment, programs can work on empowering youth in one or more aspects of their lives. But unfortunately all of these measures of empowerment are not undertaken efficiently. It can be the manifestation of hypocritical breach in the political setup of our state or can be a flaw in our socio-cultural setup. I personally cognize that by instrumenting these steps We can have brobdingnagian assistance in alleviating our youth to a new level of innovation and productivity where they can behold immense possibilities incentivizing them to come out of this vicious cycle of ineffectiveness and breath into a nurturing frame where they can conceive their potential and goals.
Letting our tarnished and cranky youth docile to their maculated and vacillated lives is to deprive our society from socio-political progression.
Why Youth? Youth are of inevitable importance because they are the successors and future nation builders they are energetic and enthusiastic having lineament of learning and adapting in volatile conditions. They have the power of catalyzing a transformation for their society. History is the evidence of showing the huge role of youth revolutionaries who had transfigured their stubborn and ignorant systems and the way we look this post-modern world is the manifestation of these youth powers which had incentivized the changes at mass scale.
What can be done?Taking all these things in mind I personally think there are certain steps to be taken into consideration in this regard at different levels. We are in need of the multi-pronged strategy which can enhance the results. Delivering education and inculcating the scientific temper in the students should be our top priority. The youth should be actuated for developing the skills which can help to boost skillful manpower. The government should prepare their investment plans which should be youth-empowerment oriented and should be implemented in a priggish manner. Not only is the state’s role having vitality in this issue we should also figure out some steps where we are showing leniency. Parents should realize that their children are most valuable assets if nurtured properly so counselling of parents at community level is equally important. We should all cooperate in making these changes possible and help youth of this generation in overcoming all these barricades in the way of their self-development and progressiveness and most importantly their self-depreciative attitude towards their worthy selves.
(The author is a student of B.A (Hons) Philosophy at AMU Aligarah. Views are his own)
Parenting Challenges In Lockdown
Aqib Mushtaq
[email protected]
WHO declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), to be a pandemic on March 12, 2020. In many countries around the world, schools are closed, travel is restricted and the immediate future is unpredictable. There’s no denying that life as we know it is going to be quite different for a while. Around mid-March, when several Indian states sprung into action to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, their first step was to shut schools. Initially, the shutdown was meant to be till March 31, but it was then further extended till April 15, when the 21-day national lockdown concludes. The coronavirus outbreak is affecting people across India in different ways. For parents of school-going kids across the country, the experience has been overwhelming and exhausting. Kids, who typically spend between three and seven hours in a structured learning environment away from home, are now stuck indoors for weeks. Schools are shut. All out-of-home activities and social interactions have stopped, too. In such times, keeping kids engaged with creative activities that they find interesting is tough. As kids find their parents at home, they expect us to do things that we do during weekends. Usually when kids sees their parents at home, they want more of their undivided attention.
Parenting is made harder by uncertainty, stress and economic hardship. Parents and children are living with increased stress, media hype and fear, all challenging our capacity for tolerance and long-term thinking. For many, the economic impact of the crisis increases parenting stress, abuse, and violence against children.
What To Do?
1. Create a flexible but consistent daily routine.
2. Children have a right to truthful information about what’s going on in the world, but adults also have a responsibility to keep them safe from distress, recommending that adults use age-appropriate language, watch children’s reactions, and be sensitive to their level of anxiety.
3. Being at home means having access to the most exciting room in the house – plus everyone is going to need feeding! If your kids are old enough, they can help with daily meal planning and preparation, while younger kids will love to get stuck into anything that’s both messy and delicious!
4. Staying at home is a great opportunity to focus on the activities that tend to get less emphasis on the average school curriculum. If your kid is a budding Picasso, the COVID lockdown is the perfect time to nurture those talents. Art is also a great way for children to express any emotions they might be feeling.
5. We all know how important it is that kids are physically active every day. Guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services say that adolescents and children age 6 and older need at least an hour a day of physical activity, while children ages 3 to 6. Should be physically active throughout the day to enhance their growth and development.
7. Last but not least, don’t underestimate the importance of being part of a community – it’s what will get us through this! Schools should have measures in place so that your children don’t fall behind on coursework, but one positive thing to come out of the Corona-chaos is that so many of us are sharing resources online.
(The author is a student of BSc Nursing 3rd year at IUST Awantipora. Views are his own, [email protected])