Youth to take part in development

Nimal WIJESINGHE

The Youth Affairs and Skills Development Ministry has embarked on a program parallel to International Youth Day which falls on August 12 to make the youth generation in the country, take an active part in the country's overall development.

The program will be implemented over a period of two months starting from August 8 to October 8 as a pilot project initially in the Anuradhpura district on the guidance of Deputy Minister Duminda Dissanayake.

Youth clubs in the district and 50,000 adults including the parents of the youth will participate in the program. The main intention of this program is to prevent youth from falling prey to incidents of child abuse, rape, addiction to alcohol and narcotics, youth violence, sex diseases etc., while guiding them to local and foreign job markets fully armed with qualifications. The National Youth Service Council, the Vocational Training Authority and the National Apprenticeship and Technical Training Authority will assist youth participants in this program. In the implementation of the venture, proposals, advice and criticism of the adults involved would be appreciated.