BY A STAFF REPORTER

Lalitpur, Dec. 16:Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture (MYSC) today organised a seminar-cum-workshop on Formulation of National Youth Policy with an objective of soliciting appropriate suggestions prior to the policy formation through discussions among the government and NGOs working in the field of youth activities.

The policy would bring about uniformity and co-ordination between all the related governmental and non-governmental organisations to make the youth force productive, discipline and cultured, the organisers said. “The national youth policy will outline the role of institutions directly or indirectly concerned with youth activities, define the role of MYSC as the central government agency for youth affairs and also spell out the specific section of the population covered by the word ‘youth’”.

Similarly, the policy would develop long and short-term procedures for youth development and include the work area of the national youth council to be constituted soon out of realisation of the need of a separate government mechanism for implementing these procedures at district level, they said.

Various government agencies, national and international non-governmental organisations, representative agencies of the United Nations and representatives of social institutions and youth organisations of six national-level political parties are taking part in the three-day seminar.

People between 15 to 29 years are categorised as youths in Nepal and they constitute 27 per cent of the total population of the country. Some 25.6 per cent of the youths in the world are said to live in South Asia.

Inaugurating the seminar, Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture Sarat Singh Bhandari said it was unfortunate that a clear and concrete policy to guide the youth force, the main agent of change and progress in the country, should still be lacking. “However, the government has made attempts to address the problems of youths in the current Ninth Five Year Plan.”

Incidents that happen in the country every day were proof that change would be violent and extreme if the youth force was not guided on the right track, he said pointing out the need for serious contemplation of programmes which government and the non-governmental sector could undertake to cultivate morality and discipline among youth.

Minister Bhandari showed a bleak picture of various problems being faced by the country’s youth and accused political parties of exploiting them for their political interest. “Youth unemployment, brain drain of youths, exhaustion of existing job-opportunities within the country and lack of a work ethic are pertinent problems in this connection.”

MYSC Secretary Sri man Shrestha said today’s main challenge was how to orient youth towards the mainstream of nation building and make them socially conscious, culturally aware, economically self-reliant, technically skilled, physically fit and mentally conscientious citizens.

Pointing out that development of a positive role for youth, good conduct and sensibility was necessary for guiding youth towards the right direction, he emphasised maximum use of youth power and skills for taking them on the right track.