Youth - The Future Pillars

If you ask each country about its most important asset, it will say that its youth are its top asset.

“The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow” -        Nelson Mandela

The youths are the symbol of hope for the society. There are many incidents where the youths inculcated justice and brought peace. They play a vital role for society's well-being.

Usually, in all movies, character arcs are categorized as white-sided or black-sided. That is, good individuals are represented in a white template, and evil is represented in a black template. Why does white represent good and black bad? It was followed not only in movies but also in real life. This practice ended purely with the youths' thought of equality among all.

On February 1, 1960, a group of 4 African Americans were shopping at the F.W. Woolworth shop. After their shopping was over, they went to eat at a non-segregated counter. The servants now refused to offer the services to those 4 men. These men were studying at a university in Greensboro. Among all workers, one woman, a white woman, said,

"I wish this voice could have been raised 10 years ago.”

There are many people who want everyone and everybody to treat them equally. The word is being carried as an action by the courageous youths. “A small spark can cause a big burst.” Likewise, the small group of people’s protest spread across the states and formed a big movement. Many rational youths, including whites, supported this protest to end segregation at the food counters, to eradicate this illogical social norm. The company was reluctant to change its policy. In this protest, both Black and white people protested against this diabolical culture. The mayor of this state created a mayor's committee to ease the tension between the groups. The store manager was reluctant to protest, so he shut down the store. When the store was opened, the sales dropped to one-third. As days passed, company losses were accumulating, resulting in a loss of $200,000. Due to the huge losses faced, the store manager Clarence Harris made four Black women staff members sit at the counter and be served the food. Because of this, the month-long protest yielded the results that people expected. Segregation at the counters finally came to an end. This is the real proof that when youths are joined together, they can demolish all the social stigmas, carry a new world to the next generation.

Now, the world's most debatable topic is GenZ youth and their potential. We all know the youths' potential. There are both positives and negatives. Compared to youths of other generations, Gen-Z youths are proactive, highly competent, and adaptable. Nowadays the youth movement gains more support in society. It is evident across the globe.

Just compare the present world with the year a century ago. That is 2026 vs. 1926. Experts are saying that in 2026 El Nino will occur, and in 1926 it was La Nina's turn. In 1926, economic growth and manufacturing were slow due to less automation, but in the year 2026, everything has completely changed. The manufacturing sector gets its advanced automation. Many things have changed from 1926 to 2026, or should I say we changed many things? The backbone of all development is young people led by great leaders. We have also lost many things, but does the converse hold true that many things have lost us?

The second statement is not suitable now. Indeed, we lost many things. Furthermore, scientific researchers say that the youth of this generation have a significantly shorter attention span compared to previous generations. The growth of technology is massive, but the line between productive use and aimless scrolling grows thinner day by day.

Companies once ran their businesses for the customers' money; now the social media platforms compete for consumers' time. There's a saying,

"Social media is free because you are paying with your free time.”

Time has now become the new currency.

The youth of this generation need to work hard and, at the same time, be smart enough to complete their missions and achieve their lofty dreams.

Recently, there were discrepancies when the CBSE released the photocopies of the students' evaluation sheets. There was chaos among those students; some of them claimed that the paper was not of legible digital quality. Nearly 20 cases were filed for whole answer script mix-ups. Three youths dug the ground deep and found the discrepancies in the tender process itself. One such student, Sarthak Siddhant, was called by the parliamentary Standing Council to present his investigation. Here, the youths, especially teenagers, found the faults in the tender process itself. As a result of all these, the chairperson and the secretary of the CBSE had been transferred.

Another event, which affected every aspirant, their family, and their society, posed an important question:

"Is the Indian education system still nurturing youths to achieve their dreams?”

If the answer is yes, then there shouldn't be a protest in Jantar Mantar. Hundreds and thousands of students were sitting day and night for the accountability of the government over the paper leak and justice for those students who lost their lives after the leak, which shouldn't have happened.

These are the real events, the real proof that the youths will come and join together to bring societal equality whenever it is corrupted.

Despite the challenges, the youth still remain hope and a pillar of our world, but we are able to see clearly that something went wrong with the youths.

One troubling trend with the youths is the suicide rates. The overall global suicide rate among the youths aged 15-19 is approximately 7.4 per 100000 and 10 to 11 among the aged 20-24. Even though we have this number, it is not uniformly distributed and varies among the genders and countries. Nearly 73% of suicides were reported in low-income countries. South America has seen a vast increase in the rates, with a 56% increase among males and a 43% increase among female youths between 1990 and 2009. Suicides are the third leading cause of deaths among the youths. There are many reasons behind every single suicide. The death rate by suicide among the youth is heartbreaking. They are the assets of the world. Together they transformed this society a lot and have the potential to change for making this earth a better place to live. The loss of youths by suicide is not at all acceptable. We need to look into this matter deeply. Unemployment and societal pressure are some of the societal factors leading to the suicides. To reduce this rate, as a community we should unite to provide support and opportunities necessary to ensure a bright future.

"Youths are worth more than gold, platinum, and diamonds; they are priceless.”

Youths are the game changers of the world, but they should be led in the right direction.

Credits:

Patron: Dr. K. Manonmani, Principal of GCT

Staff In-charge: Dr. M. Kalpana

Editor in Chief: Mathimalar V (IT 23-27)

Article prepared by: Mithelesh M B (EEE 24-28)