KARACHI: Steps urged to solve adolescents problems
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 4: Speakers at a function on Friday said that though nearly 65 per cent population of the country was below the age of 25 years, no concrete steps were being taken to groom and train it properly.
They were speaking at the function organized on the concluding day of the five-day training on better life skills organized jointly by UNICEF and the Pakistan Voluntary Health and Nutrition Association (PAVHNA).
Fifty youngsters, aged between 16 and 25 years and belonging to low-income group areas of North Karachi and Korangi, participated in the programme. The participants were either students or dropouts now doing odd jobs to supplement the family income.
The organizers and trainers on the occasion said that many changes— physical as well psychological— take place in the human body during the adolescent phase, and the youth are curious to get answers, but they sometimes feel embarrassed to ask certain questions.
They said that owing to social and cultural inhibitions, adolescents were unable to discuss many issues with their elders and usually discussed the issues with and got information from their friends or colleagues who themselves did not have correct information. They added that incorrect and misleading information sometimes created and spread complications among the growing minds.
They said the main purpose of the programme was to provide correct training to the youth and by holding it they had proved that such trainings could be organized. However, they added that being a non-governmental organization, they could only present models on a limited level which the government could replicate on a much bigger level.
They said that though there was much talk about the issues being faced by adolescents, not much was being done practically to solve their problems. They regretted that even the educational institutions did not pay proper attention or put enough stress on the grooming and character building of the youth.
Highlighting the activities of the PAVHNA, established by social worker Begum Zeba Zubair in 1979, they said the organization was working in the field of reproductive health through its 17 partner NGOs in three provinces — Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP.
They said that the organization had 34 community based centres—four in Balochistan, eight in the NWFP and 22 in Sindh— and with its over 500 field staff was providing services to over 2.1 million poor people residing in different pars of the country.
They said that PAVHNA was also running four youth centres — two each in Karachi and Larkana — which were serving young people aged between 13 and 25.
Two participants said that the information provided to them was very useful and would be helpful in their future, and that they would also spread that information among their friends.
They said that the training had cleared many misconceptions that they earlier had and it would help them adopt healthy attitudes in life. They said that the training and the information provided to them had made them confident and now they would be able to face issues easily and also help others solve their issues.
The topics of the training were: basic rights of adolescents; gender; qualities of a trainer; communications skills; power and action; attitude; health and hygiene; education through friends; how to make good decisions; reproductive health; adulthood and body changes; sexually transmitted diseases and prevention; HIV/AIDS; sexual abuse and prevention; drug addiction; education for peace and problem solving; self esteem; how to make youth groups; feedback etc.
Two tableaus — one each by boys and girls — were staged. The tableaus highlighted the social and family problems like drug addiction and the generation gap.
Yasmeen S. Qazi, Begum Qamar Aftab; Rehana Rashidi, Dr Jabeen Abbas, Dr Abdul Qayum, Bilquis Sylvester, Dr Aila Tahir, Iftikhar Soomro, Seema Tahir, Ms Shahnawaz, Rehana Saleem and two representatives of the participants, S. M. Ather and Tahira Jabbar, spoke at the function conducted by Fauzia Matloob.
