OPTIMIZE YOUTH PARTICIPATION, REGIONAL MEETING URGED

CARICOM Youth Ambassadors Vice-Dean, Belizean Ms Tarun Butcher is urging optimum participation of young people in the activities of the Caribbean Community. Ms Tarun was addressing Regional Ministers of Youth and Culture, Ministry officials, representatives of regional and international organisations and CARICOM Youth Ambassadors at the opening of the 29th Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) in Guyana, Thursday.
“The youth want to participate now,” she said. “If not now then when, and if not us then who?” she asked the participants.
Ms Tarun said there was need to foster the philosophy that young people are assets to the Community rather than problems to be solved. She said Caribbean youth have been contributing in areas such as societal change, innovation and technological development despite being affected by issues such as poverty, social inequality and marginalization.
The Opening Ceremony was also addressed by Chairman of the COHSOD and Minister of Sports and Youth Development in St. Lucia, Mr. Shawn Edward. He said the theme of this COHSOD, "Leveraging CARICOM's Human and Cultural Assets for the Sustainable Development of the Community" struck at the very heart of the responsibility of Ministers with responsibility for Youth and Culture.
The Minister said there needs to be a shift in the thinking and valuing of areas of the school curriculum, and that critical thinking and innovative disposition must be more recognized for there to be success in the knowledge economy and society.
The research has demonstrated quite conclusively the links between exposure to arts - for example music and drama - and enhanced outcomes in other areas, the Minister said.
Minister in Guyana’s Ministry of Education Ms. Nicolette O. Henry told the ceremony that Guyana has begun to draft a national cultural policy. She said the framework intends to mainstream culture and examine it from three areas over the next five years: culture and the environment, culture in education and culture and citizenship.