Georgetown: Guyana’s future, in the New Year – 2013 – lies, inescapably, in the hands of our youth. We must give them the best possible preparation to lead this nation forward. We should, therefore, resolve to make the New Year Guyana’s ‘Year for Youth.’
Young people today constitute seventy per cent of our prison population. They are the majority of our poor and unemployed. They are our street children and child labourers who are being robbed of a bright future. They deserve better.
Guyana’s ‘Year for Youth’ must be one in which our young people should be able to look forward to a good life. It should be one in which fewer of them become victims of crime or are forced to grow up in hunger, poverty, on the street or in jail.
Guyana’s ‘Year for Youth’ must be one in which our young people can be educated in well-equipped and well-staffed schools; in which the high rate of dropouts from primary and secondary schools is reduced; in which young school-leavers can expect to be employed and in which the high rate of migration of educated graduates is lowered.
Guyana’s ‘Year for Youth’ must be the beginning of an era in which the education, employment and empowerment of young people are enhanced. These needs must be embodied in a new National Youth Policy that is central to the development of our nation. Let us, therefore, as we all look forward with anticipation to “a good life for all,” make the New Year – 2013 – Guyana’s ‘Year for Youth.’
My best wishes for a happy new year to everyone
