The Maldives Police Services has inaugurated the third in a series of youth camps titled ‘Blues For Youth’ on Sunday on the island of Feydhoo Finolhu.
Minister of Home Affairs Umar Naseer, Minister of Youth and Sports Mohamed Maleeh Jamal, and the Commissioner of Police Hussain Waheed addressed the participants of the camp at the inauguration event held on Sunday morning.
In his address, Home Minister Naseer focused on the importance of local youth involvement on all kinds of work and as a way of decreasing the need for foreign labour in the country.
“There is no task too menial or lowly for a Maldivian. If doing the work earns you an income, and is a service unto the nation, then it is not too lowly for us,” said Naseer.
“None of the work currently being conducted by foreigners in this country is either lowly or dirty work. It is not something that we Maldivians cannot do.”
He called on the Maldivian youth to partake on whatever work that may come their way, “keeping in mind that our ancestors fulfilled all these tasks, did all this work, without employing any foreigners to do the work for them”.
“Youth must become independent people who do not extend hands to others to ask for aid and charity. Let us make our youth become people who work to earn a living and can take care of themselves through their own work,” he stated.
Naseer commended the police force’s initiative in continuing the youth camps, and reiterated his previous announcement that national service will be made obligatory for all school leavers.
He stated that the camp is now a “stepping stone in the preparations the state is making to introduce national service”.
He called on parents to work to familiarise children with work environments, stating that this is among the main objectives of the camp, in addition to instilling discipline in youth participants.
Youth Minister Jamal also spoke at the inauguration, asserting that “the whole nation is determined to turn the youth into disciplined individuals”.
“The uniformed forces display exemplary discipline. If the youth of the country follow their example and take up their disciplinary norms, this country will easily become one that fulfills its development goals,” Jamal said.
Jamal further revealed that his ministry is aiming to open 24 sports arenas through out the country. He stated that the aim was to employ youth in jobs created at the ministy’s youth centres and sports arenas by the end of the year.
Speaking at the event, Commissioner of Police Hussain Waheed acknowledged that the crime rate in the country had increased in recent days, while assuring that the police have also stepped up their efforts to deal with the issue.
Police will pay extra attention to protecting youth and adolescents from entering lives of misdeeds and crime, he added.
The third camp in the ‘Blues For Youth’ series will be held for a period of two weeks in the island of Feydhoo Finolhu. The current intake of the camp is 51 youths aged between 15 and 18 years.
The second in the series was completed in January 2014 in the same island with 64 participants. The first was held in Addu City and Fuvahmulah in late December 2013.
“A weekend with MNDF”
In addition to the Police, the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) is also conducting a series of training targeted at young persons.
The MNDF concluded the third in its programme titled ‘A weekend with MNDF’ on Saturday.
According to the defence force, the objective of the programme is to instil Islamic values, the spirit of nationalism, and love for the country in the hearts of youth. Furthermore, participants will be trained to deal with challenges and to increase self-confidence, while an additional module will teach participants more about the functions of the MNDF.
The MNDF states that the initiative emerged from President Abdulla Yameen’s first 100 day plans, and that it is a part of the administration’s youth policy and social policy.
The defence force further announced that it would be commencing dive courses and security guard training for youth in the near future.
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I tend to disagree with minister. It is a mindset (especially in South Asia) where a blue collar work is considered a sure sign of you being an under-achiever. Young men with just 10 years of schooling start dreaming of doing nothing but paid. If you want to overcome this - you need to start by decreasing income disparity.