Invest in youths

Perhaps there could not be many better things for the government and the society to invest in than the development of its youths. And that was the main thrust of the call of the President while inaugurating the two-day convention titled, "Lead 2012: Youth in Rising South Asia: Promises and Dreams."
We fully echo the President's sentiments because, given that the region has 25 percent of the world's population and also the largest portion of the young between the ages of 15 and 24, not doing so would be at the peril of the regional countries. Indeed, it is our youths that hold the promise of fulfillment of our dreams.
For Bangladesh the situation has been made brighter by the fact that presently around 73 percent of the population in our country is below the age of 40. And if we were to leave out of the equation those below productive age, we would still have a very substantive portion of people between 20 and 40 years of age, a situation that is quite the reverse in many countries of the West, and which puts us in a much better position than many of the regional countries.
And the youths are one of the very important vehicles of the country's transformation which the government should focus on. Because, going by the global trend, leadership in many important sectors of national and human growth is being provided by the youths successfully. Therefore, they are not the leaders of the future but rather leaders of the present too. Not only are they far better in absorbing technology, they are better also in applying it in their respective fields provided they have opportunity to access the appropriate technology. And with the growing expansion of the ICT world, and Bangladesh becoming an active member of it, there is a vast potential of an export oriented ICT sector in Bangladesh.
However, an important aspect that all must be aware of is the fact that just as much as the youths can deliver given the opportunities, it is just as well possible for them to be frustrated and despondent, and as a consequence counterproductive, due to lack of it.