Avenue Insider: Youth Month 2022

 Youth Month 2022

Every year, we celebrate Youth month and youth day on the 16th of June in order to commemorate the lives lost on the 1976 Soweto Uprising. The uprising was caused by thee youth retaliating from having Afrikaans as a language of instruction in schools. The commemoration of this day emphasise or instil lessons of the past, the apartheid era. 

With the teachings of the apartheid era, individuals keep them stagnated to events of the past, even though they were not directly affected by it. The perspective of celebrating youth month or June 16 should change. by changing the perspective of youth day doesn't mean that the event or what has transpired has been forgotten, but it is acknowledged and forever be part of Mzansi's history. 

With all the issues the country is faced with, youth day should be used to change the mindset of the youth and steer the youth to a more positive direction. Youth seminars and youth development skills programs should be the theme for youth month. We should be focusing on eradicating unemployment amongst the youth and looking into ways to eliminate violence, gender based violence and substance abuse amongst other things. 

Let's change our country for the better, starting with the person in the mirror...