Nilai University College recently sent the largest contingent of students among private education institutes to the 17th Conference of Commonwealth Ministers in Kuala Lumpur (9-18 June 2009).
Ganesh Mahedranathan (1st year, Accounting and Finance degree) had the unique privilege of giving the closing speech to the youth forum delegates at the CCEM.
Below is the complete speech delivered by Ganesh:
CLOSING CEREMONY SPEECH AT CCEM By GANESH MAHENDRANATHAN, Malaysian representative from Nilai University College.
It gives me great pleasure to have this unique privilege of representing the voice of the youth delegates here in the 17th Conference for Commonwealth Education Ministers. We are extremely grateful for being an integral part of a forum within a larger conference that can hopefully contribute towards the all-encompassing education in the Commonwealth of Nations.
Why exactly are we here? We have had a good time and enjoyed exceptional Malaysian food! However, did ALL OF YOU actually participate in an effective and meaningful way? Did anyone of you think that you could make a difference? It is simply food for thought and perhaps a means to measure on whether the CCEM has achieved its desired goals.
As young people, we would like to inform those that walk the corridors of power that we need to have a major influence on issues pertaining to our education system. Serious youth engagement can only take place if we are given platforms to do so. Specifically, we believe student empowerment needs to be taken seriously and that youth need to be involved as they are not just leaders of tomorrow but also leaders of today.
With regards to student empowerment, we believe that universities and governments need to play a supportive role in student movements irrespective of political, race or gender preference. At the end of the day, we all want to develop individually and collectively as a nation. When I was a young boy, my father once told me that there are 3 types of people; those who MAKE things happen, those who WATCH things happen and those who say, Hey! What happened? This is where the youths, educators, universities and the government can play a more active role by making sure things happen, and happen quickly and decisively.
Besides student empowerment, we also want equality. To keep things simple, it has to be understood that even though we are socially fragmented, we all share common interests. We want equal opportunities, equal employment and equity in rights. If we cannot achieve this, how can we really stop the problem of youths dropping out? Can we motivate marginalized youths regardless of race or gender that they still have a shot at success; that they still can achieve what they desire? Can youths be given a second or even a third chance in a highly competitive and punishing knowledge-based global society?
As student leaders and social activists, we play a massive role. With our enthusiasm and energy, we have the capacity to influence change. All we want is an ACTIVE role in education. We NEED to be involved in policy decisions. We are not guinea pigs or scapegoats where systems applied in the education system can be changed whenever they feel like it. We should not feel ashamed when bringing up our dissatisfaction. As the Malaysian Youth Minister, Dato’ Ahmad Shabery Cheek reminded us when officiating the Youth Forum, youths are the trustees of education and they are the ones who should be actively consulted to shape the education system in their own countries. So, we should play a more active role and bring back what we learnt from conferences such as this to our respective countries and fight for change!
That said, we feel that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We prefer to view a glass half-full rather than half-empty. The fact that during this session, we as youth leaders and ambassadors from our countries have had opportunities to interact with ministers as well as attend a joint session with the Vice Chancellors suggests that the voices of youth have been taken seriously. We would like to thank all of you for this unique experience in voicing our opinions on key decision-making matters.
This essentially means that we should look forward, work on our past mistakes and build a better future. Let me tell you a true story before I conclude my speech. One early morning during the early 19th century, a young man was working on his experiment and it did not go as planned. But instead of giving up, he constantly reminded himself one thing before trying again; "I did not fail, I just tried 10000 ways that did not work". This man was Albert Einstein, the greatest mind in history. All I have to say is that we should never give up, never! Let us all keep fighting and be a catalyst for change. We have started the ball rolling with a declaratory statement of the Youth Forum. Let's move forward from here and as Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world!" On behalf of the entire youth delegation, I firmly believe that the future is bright for all of us. Thank you for listening to us and what we have to say. Thank you one and all.
