Seeing the world through the eyes of youth, sometimes help everyone around to take action on pertinent social issues. And this is exactly what happened at the Youth Summit held in Thimphu. The participants learnt about social issues and reflected their own roles in addressing these issues. Over a hundred students from 23 different schools attended the program.
Bringing youth from across the country together for weeklong residential learning and sharing, the summit not only provided a platform for discussion and exchange of views but developed their potential in shaping their communities.From mental health and women empowerment to rising divorce cases, the participants showed Bhutan through their eyes.
“The issue we came up with is mental health and youth, mainly to create awareness among the youths that life is precious and we have to value it, ” Bherash Pati Rai, a participant, said.
“We feel that in rural areas, women are neglected. For instance, in my home my father goes to work and comes home late, my mother doesn’t say anything but if my mother comes home late my father is not happy. So we thought that there is a gap between men and women. So we want women to raise their voice and we want them to have equal power and opportunity,” Kinzang Dendup, another participant, said.
“Divorce is a social issue. So I think we need to do something. I and my group came up with this topic, because of this issue our youths are suffering. They are deprived of education, they get depressed and indulge in substance abuse,” Dhan Bahadur said.
And adding more diversity and making the program more inclusive, for the first time, two differently-abled students attended the program.
“I feel fortunate to have come and participated in this program. I learnt a lot of things and hope to attend such programs in the future,” Dorji Wangmo, said.
Youth Summit is Bhutan Centre for Media Democracy’s (BCMD) annual summer programme that provides a platform to learn through reflection, self-discovery and understanding of socio-economic issues.
