In the struggle of national development, the youth have rendered
precious contribution to its development . The innate potentials of the
youth can be integrated as a medium of development for the nation, if such potentials are channel properly and are being fully uterlised. Malaysia with a population of about 28.7 million people has a population of about 11.4 million youths. With this number, there is a challenge for the government to ensure that the development of youths in this country is consistent with national development. First of all, government should provide continual and quality education. As we all know, education may enhance our knowledge and taught us to be a wiser man. Education is a ladder that can let us to climb towards success. Government should provide a continuous professional development program for educators to ensure that they are able to channel appropriate knowledge to the youth. An educated person has the skill to differentiate between white and black or right and wrong. Furthermore, they will have the ability to communicate effectively and resolve conflicts. In addition, government may organize workshops in order to embed the culture of unity into the youth. Our current prime minister, Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak had brought out ' 1 Malaysia' which is a program that aims to bring Malaysians to unite as one. Through this program, youth may understand the other races' culture and avoid misunderstanding and conflict between each other. Hence, they can prepare themselves for present and future challenges to be responsible citizens. It is because if youth do not comprehend the culture of the other races, it is very difficult for them to build the country in the future. Furthermore, government can have a role to encourage youth to take part in healthy activities which carry a positive impact on them. For example, the national service training program develops young generation to become patriotic and love and devotion for our country. Other than that, a wide diversity of youth clubs, projects and activities may improve youths' soft skills and make them a good leader. Government should also integrate co-curricular activities as part of the activities of the school because these activities are important to make sure the development of youth are well-balanced.
Aside from that, government should promote a conducive
ambience for mental, emotional and physical development of the youth. We all agree that the atmosphere within a place contributes as much to the success of the youth. For this reason, government should ensure that youth have a safe, warm, harmony and well-equipped school which is free from disciplinary problems. Besides, they should also continue runs scholarship program in order to support talented students whom are haunted by poverty to continue in their studies. Government should make sure that every schools have sufficient resources and facilities such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Last but not least, government has a significant role to create opportunities for the youth to be involved in decision-making progress in the matter that affect them, environment and society. For example, government may form a youth council, youth forum or youth club for each locality to let youth participate in personal and social development activities. In the meantime, we have to ensure that youths' voice are heard to encourage their civic involvement in decision-making process. This action can prevent the government from neglecting the youth which bound to be an important asset for the country. In conclusion, youths are the most precious and important resource of the nation because they are energetic and comprehend as vital instrument in development of this nation. Government shall identify, discover and acknowledge youths' needs, interests, aspirations and ideas to make appropriate provision for their growth and development. Franklin D.Roosevelt once said, we cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.