Where are the girls? The guys are too creepy so there is a cat hells chance of them being part of your team

When we refer to youth organizations, fronts, or even the Government’s Youth Services Corps, created by Ranil Wickremasinghe, when he was the Minister of Youth Affairs, the overwhelming bulk of participants, members and delegates are men. Actually for those age groups, as it is for all other age groups, there are more females than males. In that sense we must first look at why young women do not participate? Then look at ways we can increase their participation.

Firstly, our culture protects our young girls from being exposed too much to the outside world, and once they come home from school they are generally expected to help around the house and you do not see them on the roads playing cricket like the boys do. Of course with the tuition classes one sees a change in the traditional set up, and girls are sent on the bus on their own to the main towns especially at weekends to attend lectures for whatever exams they intend taking.

It goes without saying that they are more conscientious and accordingly have better grades at the exams. However the parents bemoan the fact that their girls get distracted by the boys in the classes and they have little ability to control who they meet and talk to. This change of practice is a huge fear that parents have as there are numerous stories of girls running away after making these tuition class liaisons.

In this climate, girls feel a little safe at tuition classes as the majority attending are girls. However in youth clubs, and youth gatherings and youth organizations the majority are boys, and the girls feel intimidated by them. There are the persistent guys who never stop when asked to desist by the girl! This is not only a fear, but with the increasing evidence of the incidence of rape, the girls are more concerned about their safety and are less likely to attend.

It is with this in mind, that the only solution is for them to gather in numbers for their own security and come to these events with friends so at least 3 or 4 come together and this gives them the strength to tackle any intimidating situation as they have the support of a few friends to tell anyone trying it on, to back off!!

It is important for women to participate in these organizations, especially political ones. In the latter, where women form the majority of voters, it is important that they also form a substantial, at least 25% representation in seeking political office. We must seriously devise a plan to obtain female participation in the political fabric of Sri Lanka, to improve commitment, governance and accountability.

We should even implement a training program for guys in how to treat women, something our men sorely lack. Similarly we should also have empowerment classes for women to be confident and not be intimidated by men. I cannot highlight the importance of women's participation in leadership development programs, as they have just as much right to participate in all areas of leadership in still a traditionally male dominated hierarchical society.

Young man stop looking for faults – be constructive - A call to 'ARMS'

I was recently heavily involved in organizing a youth event. Trying to engage the youth in organizing this event was a mammoth task in itself. Whilst they all see the potential benefit of such an event, they are unwilling to take responsibility for taking charge and doing the necessary work to make the event a success, instead nitpicking faults. There is a huge gulf between an OK event and a successful event.

Our goal, when we organize something is for it to be a success in every sense of the word. If we failed in one or two of the expectations that’s OK but not for want of trying. It is important to put one’s best efforts into the planning and execution of the said event.

One issue I have found, that needs to be stressed, is that young people are very enthusiastic, but they are often not practical as they are more interested in achieving the objective, but have no idea of how much it takes to achieve it. This is usually due to the lack of practice in organizing such events. Unlike with older people who can listen to boring speeches for ages, young people are more likely to be bored if their attention is not constantly drawn and will even get up and leave with no regard to the speaker. We must be aware of that when we determine who should speak and for how long. I personally believe that no one should make a speech for more than 15 minutes as after that attention is drawn to other matters.

Getting back to the organization of the event, it is important to plan for every possible eventuality as Murphy’s Law works here as well and so one must be prepared and not get too flustered when things do not go according to the original plan. In our event, scheduled speakers did not turn up, so we had to make quick contingency plans due to it. During the course of the event we had to make hurried changes to the order of the speeches, to accommodate the busy schedules of the invitees, who neither come on schedule. Nor can we plan on how long they will speak for.

Whilst the event was judged by many as a success, under my standards of judging I would rate it OK. It is a good beginning, we must learn from it. We must have a post mortem, to prevent certain things happening in the future. It is important for young people to learn what a high standard means, as they may never have been exposed to an event of a greater quality and hence make that observation!

Let’s work hard without delay, to raise the bar, raise the quality of our young people to a standard where they are confident and able to do most things in life.

Youth Expectations and how they swing wildly from day to day

In the Sri Lankan context, there is a huge gap between what is practically achievable and what is desired. I do not know if it is the foreign factor, where whenever a member of the family is overseas, then riches of material things are seen around the house and it breeds a great desire amongst neighbors for the same.

In my experience we do not have the desire to work hard enough to achieve those material possessions and I am afraid young people seek to achieve this in a short time by any means fair or foul. It is therefore not practical to try and suppress materialism, but to direct the desire, and urge in the right direction.

What might that direction be? Simply that of giving our youth the skills to understand that they can get what they want, by getting certain skills which will enable them to obtain employment or build a business from which they can make sufficient to achieve them. The problem as I see it is they do not see the skill that will enable them to do so. That is what society should show. It is the duty of the Govt. to identify the needed skills in our country today, and guide our policy planners to provide the educational establishments where those skills are gained, honed and developed. That kind of clear thinking is lacking.

As the foresight is not present, frustration amongst youth builds to a degree that mood swings and wild swings are the result. The young people latch on to anything or any idea and then try to imagine they can make money from it. Instead they must be shown a clear path to a promising future with a clear and rational process of how to get there.

While fulfilling the expectation gap is important, it is the gulf between what is expected and what is really possible that needs to bridged by closing the gap and not by building a mythical bridge that cannot be crossed. Realism should be the aim, so that they understand what is possible and why and as time and patience is not a trait with young people, it is more important to set short term goals and show a clear path as to how they can be achieved.

It is insane to see unproductive youth with goals which are as unproductive to society; Goals that are simply to get as much while doing as little as possible. It is a trait of lotus eaters that has to change if we are to progress to our full potential. Greed is what drives most people to achieve what they want. So to direct that greed to the right combination of realism and effort to achieve is what we must concentrate on.

Sri Lankan Politics – learn how older people prevent your rise! – overcome it

An active charismatic young person who appears to gain goodwill and votes, is an older politicians nightmare. Many old politicians are living on their years of goodwill, which they try to carry with them to their graves. This kind of selfish activity prevents young people from getting into politics.

The examples are for all to see at the recent scramble for nominations by young people in both the main parties challenging the latest series of provincial council elections, namely the older seasoned politicians who only want to include names of little known people who are NOT a threat to their re election prospects. Any good definite vote getter will be muzzled, mainly by his organizer in his electorate and then by all those seeking re-election in the same ticket, for the Provincial Councils.

It is best to know the reality, and play a seasoned game to avoid being excluded from seeking election, and once nominations are received, from belittling the little un on the campaign trail as someone who needs a lot of work before he or she can hope to get elected.

Young people must face this inevitable challenge, with their charm as youth, they may be able to overcome the traps and obstacles laid in front of them. Remember, as one who had to undergo this in the past, will you allow the practice to continue?

The kepili ketili viyaparaya engaged in by some, can be overcome, and a promising young person can use this prevention to gain sympathy and votes, and sometimes even oust the person who has tried to prevent him out of office. It is sweet revenge when they can achieve this feat and there are examples of many who have had to face this and were able to reach high political office despite the visible and invisible barriers laid before them.

It is important the young people are fully aware of what they face and how they are able to stealthily overcome some of the challenges. The proportional representation system which has spurred the fight for preferences is at the root cause but which is not likely to change soon, as it is not in the interests of the government in power. They believe the current system in the long term will back them and are disinclined to change the bases of calculation.

A politically astute young person will know how to face this challenge and win without falling out with their party’s hierarchy, as that determines his future.

Young Woman – you are so lucky and you don’t even know it!

Sri Lanka will shortly increase the percentage of places reserved for women nominees from political parties, for election to the local bodies of the Pradeshiya Sabhas and Municipal Councils. That is a splendid move and a chance for young people, included in the percentage is youth seeking election under 35 as a separate category which is also established with a specific minimum number of candidates.

You must have read in the papers these past days, what a scramble there was for nominations, especially through the main political parties. There were many disappointed people who did not get nomination.

So young lady you come to me. If you are 21 and you honestly think you can make a difference to the political scene and can wear a thick skin to jeers and criticism, especially from your own party. I will guarantee you nomination! How about that to boost your ego, morale and prospects of election?

I agree getting nomination is the first step, and getting elected is the real test. So what are your chances of being elected?  I am only generalizing here. It is pretty high and you do not have to spend a fortune either. There is a general inbuilt bias towards a young lady asking the public to vote for her. They look at her as being untainted by corruption, and least likely to be corrupt.

Whilst I agree that women participation in political office in Sri Lanka is miserably low. The women in politics are usually those who have come through a family background where the father or husband were local pols and using their goodwill to get elected. However I believe that the time is ripe for women to get into politics from simple backgrounds, but with a clear vision on what they can do to correct the current corrupt practices in all walks of life, and especially in the Sri Lankan govt. set up. It is our duty to highlight this fact and inspire women to seek public or elected office. They will definitely carry with them the goodwill of the electorate and first time candidates will automatically get a kick from the lack of a track record of corruption, which most of the candidates seeking reelection have.

It is time for all young women, even one voting for the first time at 18 to think of getting into elected office. You can even say that there is no one in the country representing the females in your age group and it is high time somebody stood up to being kicked around like a football. Insist on your rights on behalf of the youth of today, especially young women who woefully lack representation. Remember I told you so, as it is a closely guarded secret, they do not want you to know about. 

Youth must stick together, don’t start selfish ways at an early age. Achieve on merit not by preventing competition

I have noticed that Sri Lanka youth behave with a sense of entitlement that borders on the ‘not in my back yard syndrome’. For example the Medical Students of the Colombo University are the most vocal against the establishment of the Malabe Medical School. Now why is that? Do they fear competition? Is that the real reason because people who have money, but did not get the Z score from Colombo necessary to get into the Sri Lanka State University System have been enrolled.

After all many of the Medical Faculty lecturers moonlight at Malabe and a high proportion of students are offspring of doctors practicing in Sri Lanka and who have passed through the SL State Medical Schools. So it will be that many of the children of the students demonstrating against the Malabe School, will also enter Malabe as they did not get the grades to get into the SL State Medical Faculties.

So what is all this about? It is simply when you are on one side, the Free system, you do not want competition. Don’t forget they will also have to do the same exams foreign qualified doctors will have to sit, before they are able to practice in the SL medical field, anywhere, private or public. The beef is that it is a private for profit, BOI School. After all it was established by Dr Neville Fernando, who sold the Central Hospital on Horton Place to Softlogic Holdings for Billions.

The BOI concession is so that the equipment can be imported duty free. It is possible it may never make a profit to shareholders and like all not for profit hospitals everywhere, the surplus will be reinvested in the Medical School and the Hospital he is building to be attached to the school, which will have over 1,000 beds, and have facilities better than what the demonstrating students are fighting to close down. There are even some crazy MPs calling for it to be nationalized.

Whose property do they think it is? When a person uses his personal wealth and builds a University, or Medical School and conforms to the standards acceptable around the world, what right do others have to complain. After all hitherto, hundreds of students have gone to foreign universities, when they have not been able to get into the SL system, and qualified there and returned to Sri Lanka after sending billions of rupees out of Sri Lanka for their education. It is better if that money is spent in Sri Lanka and every extra state of the art hospital built here must add to the wealth and the health care options of the citizens of Sri Lanka.

The campaign to get a million signatures to order the closure of Malabe does not sound fair at all, as the opposition is from vested interests and not the public.

I use this example because it clearly demonstrates how selfish young people’s minds are when it comes to sharing opportunities. Another case in point comes from the Graduates in Physiotherapy. They want the School of Physiotherapy that has been established since 1957 and which offers a 2 year HND diploma course, to be closed down and be replaced by them into the Health Service commanding income in excess of double of that of the diploma holders.

OK the Diploma syllabus is outdated. So they must update it to the 21^st Century. As it is a diploma course, the entry requirements are less stringent, and the population drawn to follow those courses are less qualified. However they can turn out to be a much better physiotherapist than the degree holder who may have the knowledge in science that the diploma holder does, but the latter may actually fulfill the patients needs better, due to his skill. Physiotherapists fail to realize that in addition to the knowledge of the body, the art of providing physiotherapy is a huge skill, which the diploma holder may be better at.

In the end in the private sector no matter if the person has a qualification or not, his prestige is what gets carried by word of mouth and get him work. I was looking for a physiotherapist and had to check them all out and find someone suitable to fulfill my needs and that may not necessarily be a graduate. With graduates expecting to charge a higher fee, I have to think of my finances also. So I may opt for the lower priced one, as that is all I can afford. I must have the flexibility of choosing one to fit my pocket too!!

These examples clearly show that we do not want others in the same population to get ahead as we perceive we have a stake and want fewer entrants, that may devalue our position. I recommend young people not to prevent others from getting ahead, in their pursuit to improve their quality of life. There has to be space for everyone and the only way one can assure oneself of a gain, is you can be better than your competitors. That is acceptable when prevention is NOT.

The JVP is ideologically against Private Education and is thus pursuing a bankrupt theory that is not practical. I am advocating a meritocracy, where the market determines by practical ability and not by qualifications alone, reinforced by word of mouth in pursuing ones dreams. Do not prevent others from pursuing theirs. You just have to be the best, and not prevent someone else from getting there. Only then will you truly value yourself and your achievements without trampling others, and have nothing to fear as your pursuit of perfection is not at the expense of others. You will then achieve your personal goals and can be proud of your achievements, that have been earned fair and square and not by default.

In an unresolved dispute, don’t shout if older generation imposes their views

In all spheres, compromise is often the way to resolve differences. This holds true in marriage and business and other personal activities one engages in with other people. There can be disputes amongst neighbors over trees overhanging a property or of roots coming into the adjoining property cracking the foundation.

All these events have to be resolved amicably if we are to get along with people we may not necessarily like. It is very rare that we can get our way all the time. The ultimate test is in a marriage where a huge amount of tolerance, understanding and compromise is required between two parties for it to be successful.

It is a fact that young people often wish to impose their will, and when they do not get their own way start physically abusing or verbally scolding others. This is especially common in Sri Lanka. The young person does not realize that this behavior is actually counterproductive. It is best to calm down bite your tongue literally and go about your business and then you may see sense. So patience here is a virtue and patience is something learned from practice rather than something others can teach. It is important therefore that young people get sufficient practice in interacting with others, so they mature early to handle rough situations and instances where their anger is easily aroused. That is where sport is a great leveler and enabler of compromise, tactics and thinking.

Due to intransigence of youth, they somehow create a fight and then do not resolve the differences. It is left for an older person to settle the dispute. I believe it is time that the young person knows to resolve his own problems and not wait for an older person to come and impose solutions, because the youth have not been able to resolve them. It creates dissatisfaction, and in order to avoid matters coming to a head, it is always advisable for youth to know how to sort out their own affairs amicably or at least peaceably at the start.

In the Sri Lankan context, this dispute resolution by fighting, which then ends up being a brawl, and often in death is a habit that has to stop at some point. Often both parties in the brawl are incarcerated in the same jail cell by the local police, where they have to get on, and if not, will suffer further indignities in front of other remand prisoners, which is a face saving ploy for them to hold their fire!

Distrust often without any rational reason but possibly by gossip, which bears no basis in fact is at the heart of much of the fights of young people to achieve their objectives. It is best to try and resolve them by face to face calm resolutions, a tall order, but a worthwhile first effort in resolving disputes.