Societal integration of youth in creating a harmonized society with special reference to Southern Province.

Abstract

Youth unrest is a crucial issue that leads to create disharmony and violent conflicts within the society. There are many reasons for the frustration of youth. One of the major reasons is that no proper mechanism to integrate the youth for economic development and thereby they have lost the status of youth itself. It requires creating a space for youth and youth activities for socio-economic development, where the status of youth could be sanctioned as contributing to the overall well-being of a particular community. The primary focus of the present study was to reveal how the youth could be socially integrated to become them as proactive within their families and develop them as productive youth for creating harmonized society to ensure the sustainable development in the country. Three hundred of youth have been selected from Southern Province by considering the three identifiable categories of youth: in-school youth; youth who left school; and youth who learn as undergraduates in universities. The analysis of the study focused on four main aspects: i) youth expectations of employment; ii) professional guidance on career choices and development; iii) youth participation in community development; and iv) experiences and skills of the youth for improving employability. Irrespective of either field of study or level of education or experience and skills received or parents' occupation, majority of all the three categories of youth ranked teaching profession at the first place. Undergraduates prefer to select sð€€³lf-employment comparatively with the in-school youth and the youth who left school education. Palticipation for community development was high among the in-school youth and youth who left school. But bearing leadership positions were very rare. This limits the avenues for youth in improving the employability skills. A proper guidance for career choices and youth development within school and the society level, and creating youth­based village level societies that facilitate the youth to enhance their skills and competencies are required to change the mind sets of the youth towards creating an entrepreneurial culture and pump them to the economic development of the country. Those actions might be affected to the contribution towards alleviating the youth unrest, vicious circle of poverty and social exclusion.