This year’s International Youth Day has been marked in Kumasi with a call to the youth to focus on education and career development.
Mr.Ben Dadzie, Ashanti Regional Director of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), said this was the way to go to assure themselves of a meaningful and fulfilling future.
They need to harness and channel their potentials into productive ventures and do everything to avoid mistakes that could come back to haunt them.
He noted that the youth of contemporary times faced more challenges- intense pressure from the negative effects of globalization, modernity, technology and the craze for materialism.
“Many more young people are getting themselves into constant trouble as they engage in drug trafficking, robbery, cyber crime, occultism and other vices with the notion to survive or feel superior.”
Mr.Dadzie said to assist them to overcome these, they necessarily would have to be mentored.
It is also important to strengthen guidance and counseling in schools to enable them to make the right choices and decisions.
“The youth and mental health”, was the theme for this year’s event, held under the auspices of the National Youth Authority (NYA).
The annual celebration of the day provides the platform to draw attention to obstacles impeding the development of the youth worldwide and how to tackle them.
Mr. George-Orwell Amponsah, Kumasi Metropolitan Director of the NYA, said the Authority would continue to be supportive of youth literacy and skills-acquisition programmes.
