By Farah R
Edited by Nur Qistina
Image courtesy of Anadolu English
Youth. A refreshing word specified for teens to young adults, individuals who are filled with dreams and hope for themselves and society. According to the United Nations, youths are the leading group in the world, with three-quarters of them aged between 15 to 24 years old, and the age group that has the highest access to digital media. Therefore, an International Youth Day dated August 12th annually is neither odd nor an exception to be regarded as one of the important events to be celebrated worldwide. In conjunction with the 2024 International Youth Day, the chosen theme for this year is closely related to the advancement of technologies.
“From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development”
The theme introduced by the United Nations signifies a lot of the youth’s responsibilities as the leading age group dominating most of the digital world available in today’s world. Teens and young adults with the ability and skills that become the golden assets for the upcoming times should be equally appreciated and acknowledged for their existence and contribution to society. As sustainable development has become a frequent talk of the town in the 21st century, youths are the main target in realising this goal. The United Nations has introduced 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which state that every creature in the universe shall play a role in attaining each goal. Coincidentally, the theme of 2024’s International Youth Day this year precisely highlights the two key goals among the 17 listed goals.
From the SDGs, there are two significant goals that are close to the hearts of the youth. The fourth goal, which is quality education, ensures inclusive and equitable quality education and promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all. Meanwhile, the eighth goal focuses on decent work and economic growth, aiming to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth, eliminate underemployment, maximise employment productivity, and provide decent work for all. From these two goals released by the UN, the youth’s existence in today’s world and their synergy in making the world a better place in the future are vital. However, on the other side of the world, tragic events and catastrophes have had a great impact on youths, corrupting their role as the majority age group in the world.
Recently, precisely on July 15, the youth community was shocked by the mass protest happening in Bangladesh. The protest has affected most of the university students in Bangladesh, who mostly came from the youth age group. What makes it worse is that the protest has caused a great number of deaths among youths, which has unconsciously decreased the youth communities in Bangladesh. Initially, the students of Dhaka University began the protest peacefully, however, as the authorities started to intervene, the tables turned, leading to a volatile situation, which resulted in the protestors getting attacked. The situation became utterly terrible as the death toll mounted, affecting not only the students but also on-duty journalists and bystanders. It is an unfortunate accident to ever happen towards youth and even to human beings.
For your information, the protest occurred as the university students called upon the government for reformation on the quota allocation for civil jobs in the country. To put it in simpler words, at the end of June this year, the High Court of Bangladesh reduced the quota amount from 30% to 5%, and this has made it pretentious that university students are expected to serve the government in the future. It is unacceptable for the students who have dreams and hopes towards the government for the sake of the country’s stability. These students undoubtedly know their immense potential in bridging the gap in the current ill unemployment rate in Bangladesh. Thus, their action in protesting is justified, as the youths have become more independent in demanding justice and accountability for Bangladeshi citizens and students. Furthermore, the students have an absolute right to claim the government’s liability for those who have been violently killed, harmed, and harassed due to this violence.
With this recent and ongoing violence happening in Bangladesh, the situation has unaligned both of the SDGs, as stated above in this article. From my personal lens, I think the action taken by the Bangladeshi students was totally acceptable, as they know their rights as students and youth who have the power to demand from the authorities. The government should respect the students and ought to bring this crucial issue to the higher-ups for the betterment of the country itself. The government also needs to put an end to this violence, as it has seriously caused the country a massive loss of potential youth. The violence is exacerbated as it continues to rage, leaving the students as well as the citizens severely suffering from this calamitous violence. They even have no access to the internet or electricity; henceforth, this situation threatens to be even worse and remains concealed from the world.
Image courtesy of Anadolu English
As a student myself, I persistently hope for this unfortunate event to never happen again, especially when it involves youths, who are the precious treasure for the upcoming generations. Hence, to show solidarity with Bangladeshi students who are affected by this devastating situation, I urge all students around the world to show them support and acknowledge their rights as the future of Bangladeshi workforces, who will dedicate themselves to attaining the SDGs.
Again, I vigorously call upon the world to put an end to this violence and firmly stand with the Bangladeshi communities who are suffering from this catastrophic violence. With social media supplying real-time information and news on this issue, we have the responsibility to speak up on their behalf and to never overlook their effort in shaping a better society for years ahead. This, then, will go in parallel with this year’s Youth Day theme of “From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development.”
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