Sin Chew Daily

Amidst the gloom of the coronavirus pandemic, we are ushering in the National Youth Day and Teachers' Day. Although such events can only be celebrated in a much watered down manner thanks to the pandemic, their significance and importance will never be discounted to the least.

Prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has over these two days delivered his speech in conjunction with these two meaningful events through live telecast to express the government's appreciation for the youths and teachers.

Let's start with the youth. Like in last year, the National Youth Day this year wil have the theme of "Dekad Ini, Dekad Anda" (This Decade, Your Decade), underlining the importance of youths in today's society.

Youths are the future of this country and a valuable asset to it. They place a very important part in nation-building and this has been recognized by all quarters, especially during the National Youth Day celebration where leaders from all quarters will hot hold back their praises for youths. Unfortunately, their voices are often left unheard in reality.

The youths and the nation's future leaders are now in a dilemma. The statistics department data show that unemployment rate among youths aged between 15 and 24 has increased from 10.5% in 2019 to 12% last year.

Other than unemployment, youths are also facing the low-income quandary. Higher education ministry statistics show that among the more than 70,000 first degree holders taking part in a survey, as many as 22.3% only make between RM1,001 and RM1,500 a month, which is very little in a society where goods prices are skyrocketing.

In the midst of the pandemic in particular, youths without job experiences have been badly impacted. It is imperative that the government come up with solutions to resolve their plight, listen to what they have to say, and give them expanded room to voice up.

Youths should be suitably empowered and play a bigger role, be it in politics or economy, with the hope young people with novel and youthful ideas will breathe a new lease of life into our progressively stagnating system. As such lowering the voting age to 18 is a measure that needs to be put into implementation soonest so that we can look forward to more energetic and youthful voices in the political arena.

PM Muhyiddin has revealed that the government will set up a youth consultative committee to provide feedback to the PM to make sure the voices of the youths are heard. Such a move is commendable and it is hoped that their views will be increasingly valued and they will get to contribute more significantly towards the country's development.

Other than providing a platform to offer more job opportunities to the youths and allow them to maximize their potentials, the government should also be concerned about their personalities, thinking and knowledge acquisition. And this bring to us the momentous responsibilities of teachers.

The teaching profession is an absolutely important one. Despite their very heavy workload, teachers are often overlooked and misunderstood by the society. Many people have demanded them to contribute more to the society without trying to understand their woes.

Indeed, if we want teachers to play an expanded role in nation-building, the government must provide them adequate resources and assassinate so that they can better execute their duties to educate our children and groom talented future leaders of this country.

With teaching going online during the current lockdown, teachers are subjected under more intense pressure s they have to adapt to the new normal way of teaching. The ministry must strive to help them adapt to the new changes in a bid to enhance their teaching quality.

As the prime minister has said, there is still plenty of room for improvement in online teaching. We hope that the education ministry will hearken to the voices and suggestions of teachers, parents and students, and constantly improve on teaching methodologies.

Youths and teachers are playing increasingly important roles in our society's development. The country will only have a bright future if we help them grow and perform.