Youth development: Punjab unveils policy for adolescents

It comes a year and half after the Punjab Youth Policy.

LAHORE:

The Punjab government on Monday launched its Adolescent Development Policy Framework to address the needs of youth between the ages 10 and 19.

The policy developed by the Department of Youth Affairs, Sports, Archaeology and Tourism comes a year and half after the Punjab Youth Policy that deals with the 15- 29 age bracket.

“The policy is first of its kind. It targets a specific segment of the youth,” said Dr Irfan Ahmed, a senior health advisor at Plan International. Plan International provided technical support to the department for formulating the policy.

Speaking at the ceremony, he said 10-14 age group rarely had been the focus. He said with 42 million people in the age group, Pakistan had the fourth largest adolescent population in the world.

“Unfortunately, the period that determines an individual's personality traits is ignored by the society,” said Sarah Asad, a consultant who developed the policy framework.

She said the policy would help establish guidelines for development of youth between ages 10 to 19. She said the policy was formulated after incorporating data gathered from interviewing hundreds of youth across the province.

The policy aims at providing for needs of adolescents in the framework of the Youth Affairs Department. It identifies various sub groups by gender, religious affiliation, educational and economic status, physical and mental challenges and health.

Education, literacy, health, nutrition and religious harmony, protection of vulnerable groups, early marriages, child labour, sexual abuse and corporal punishment have been discussed in the policy as major issues plaguing the adolescent population in the province.

Interventions

Youth Affairs Secretary Muhammad Khan Khichi said implementation of the policy would require collaboration with organisations specialising in services for adolescents.

“International donors readily extend their support in policy formulation, but governments in developing countries also require support and collaboration for implementing those policies,” he said.

Khichi mentioned several youth-based initiatives by the government. He said the Punjab Youth Helpline and the Punjab Youth Festival were already in progress. He said the government was also working to set up a Youth Internship Programme.

Minister for Education, Youth Affairs, Sports, Archaeology and Tourism Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan said the Punjab Youth Policy announced earlier did not focus on the 10-14 age bracket.

The minister regretted the Plan International logo on the policy document. He said the policy was a government document.

He said the government was now focusing on achieving 100 per cent primary school enrolment. He said out of the 7 million out-of-school children in Pakistan in this age bracket, 3.4 million were in the Punjab.

He said 2.8 million children entered the education system every year and through the enrolment campaign, the government hoped to increase annual rate.

He said the government was also providing missing facilities at schools in southern districts of the province at a cost of Rs7.5 billion. He said the government would initiate a comprehensive missing facilities project for the entire province in the coming year.

The Youth Festival last year, he said, had attracted 3.3 million young individuals.

He said he hoped for greater attendance this year.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2013.