The President Attends Official Ceremony Held To Mark National Youth Day

Last night, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih attended the official function held at Maldives Centre for Social Education (MCSE) to commemorate this year’s National Youth Day. The President was accompanied by the First Lady Fazna Ahmed and Vice President Faisal Naseem along with cabinet ministers and dignitaries from sports associations of the Maldives. The National Youth Day is marked on October 22^nd of every year.

Speaking at the ceremony, President Solih stated that the administration’s efforts to address youth-centric issues is generating fruitful results. In this regard, he brought into focus a research paper titled ‘Disengagement of Maldivian Youth’ published by the Maldives National University (MNU). Highlighting on the paper, the President remarked that a holistic approach is necessary to combat the prevalence of substance abuse, gang violence and crimes among the youth.

The President also emphasized on the strategic inter-agency collaborations conducted by the administration to resolve these issues.  He noted that lack of higher education opportunities and unemployment are the two main sources that drive young people towards criminal activities.

Moreover, the President stated that the administration’s initiatives such as ‘Free Education Scheme for Degree Students’ and facilitating apprenticeship programmes and jobs through State-Owed Enterprises (SOEs) are helping to yield beneficial outcomes for these problems. Apart from this, the President called into attention the many efforts undertaken by his administration to address mental health issues and illness in the society, especially among the youth population.

During the ceremony, the President presented the Youth awards to 10 recipients this year. The ceremony also saw the launching of MNU’s research paper on the state of nation’s youth which was summarized by Dr. Aishath Shehnaz, Deputy Vice Chancellor of MNU.