Youth Voices Concerns

“Out of 100 school aged kids, only 40 graduate in high school, 21 enroll in tertiary education, 7 take the licensure exam, only 3 pass the exam, but only 1 will be employed.”

“This is the grim statistics on education facing our youth today, which needs to be addressed not only by government, private sector and non-government organizations, but also the youth themselves,” according to National Youth Commission Chairman Bam Aquino.

The presentation of youth issues were made during the pre-conference activity of the Corporate Social Responsibility Week Expo 2004 Youth Forum initiated by the League of Corporate Foundations in partnership with the World Bank.

According to Aquino, it is high time for our youth today to be participative in efforts aimed at improving their conditions--whether in school, in the community, in the work place, or in every situation they may be.

Delegates to the pre-conference activity aired the issues and problems that they face today in areas of education, employment, environment, global competitiveness, healh, leadership and governance and values formation.

The event, dubbed as “Listening to the Voices of the Youth” gathered almost 100 youth representatives from different backgrounds, who will be coming back on the conference proper on July 10 at the Philippine International Convention Center.

Parallel to this endeavor, the National Youth Commission is currently preparing for the 5th National Youth Parliament to be held in Legazpi City this 27-29 October 2004.

The NYP is a 3-day convention for youth leaders all over the country. Aside from policy formulation and identification of important local and national youth issues, this year’s NYP will also be the venue for the validation of the Medium-Term Youth Development Plan, which is currently being formulated in the local levels nationwide. The MTYDP will guide the direction of the government’s youth development initiatives until 2010.