Youth must be exposed to the challenges in life

30 October 2006

Provide challenges for youth

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Noh Omar’s says schools may expel students who take part in illegal motorcycle races or join Mat Rempit groups. This, I am afraid may not be the right move and in fact may be counterproductive.

It is the flaws in the education system over the last two decades or so that has given rise to a new culture among youths that has manifested in the form of Mat Rempit.This has to be recognized and accepted as a fact.

These misguided youths need education and rehabilitation and there is no better place to do that other than in schools. By expelling these wayward students would be alienating them from the means that could be used to provide these services to our young men and women.

What is needed is the revamping of our education system so that our schools become instruments of wholesome education not a place to collect A’s as it is now. More emphasis must be placed on extra-curricular activities, sports, moral and civic education. Religious and cultural activities are important but care must be taken not to over emphasize on them. Doing so may be counterproductive as it tends to be an obstacle to the curious and experimenting young minds.

Our youth from schooldays must be allowed to freely compete with one another without favouritism.They must be forced to strive among the best for excellence based purely on merit. Without this unbiased competition, there is no real challenge in the lives of our youngsters. They become confident that they will be given everything without any genuine effort on their part.

Outside schools more recreational activities should be made available. Sports and social activities which were the passionate among the youth in the sixties and seventies are not available freely to our youth today.Excellance in sports is no more glorified as it used to be. There are no real incentives and no great rewards for those who perform superbly in sports and social and literary activities.

As a consequence of this lack for the need to strive, they have a lot of free time which they idle away doing nothing. This is an important cause of resorting to undesirable activities like illegal racing and formation of Mat Rempit gangs.

There is a dire need to create a culture of work and healthy competition for our young men and women and reward those to succed.Unless we can provide that environment, engage them in healthy and fair competition, they will be devoid of the real challenges in life and ultimately succumb to undesirable activities to the detriment of the nation.

Dr.Chris Anthony

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