Latest news with #youth
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Baffled Question Time viewers call out glaring issue with BBC panel in special episode
Baffled Question Time viewers called out a glaring issue with the BBC panel in a special episode on Thursday. The most recent instalment of the programme saw Fiona Bruce, 61, return to our screens to host a special about the challenges of growing up in the 21st century. She was joined by headmistress Katharine Birbalsingh, 52, Adolescence writer Jack Thorne, 46, YouTuber TommyInnit, 21, the secretary of state for science and technology Peter Kyle, 54, and MP Lord Willetts, 69. While watching, some viewers shared how odd they thought it was that only one person on the panel was under the age of 45. Many took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their thoughts. 'I thought the Youth focused #bbcqt was a great and overdue idea. Until I saw the panel had an average age older than me.' 'Next generation you say?' 'Why is there only 1 actual youngish person on this panel? Comedy.' 'The average age of the panellists debating what it's like being young in Britain today? 48. Farcical.' At the start of the episode, Fiona said: 'For tonight's question time, we're asking a specially convened panel and audience about the challenges of growing up in the 21st century and what it means for all of us. 'Roughly half our audience is from what very generation - under 30 or mostly Gen Z and the rest are just a little bit older, but like every other week, they reflect the range of political views across the country. 'Welcome to Question Time - the next generation - from Greenford in West London on BBC, iPlayer and Sounds.' Despite their ages, the guests do all have their own opinions from their fields about the matter. Katharine Birbalsingh is a headteacher at the Michaela Community School. Many took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their thoughts She is known to be the 'UK's strictest headmistress'. Meanwhile Jack's latest Netflix hit Adolescence hit headlines earlier this year. Back in April it was revealed that 114 million people had watched the drama - which follows the story of a boy called Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), who murdered his female classmate. It brought misogyny among young boys to light. TommyInnit - real name Thomas Michael Simons - has 15.1M subscribers on YouTube. Meanwhile Peter Kyle and Lord Willetts are figures in the political sphere.
CNA
an hour ago
- Science
- CNA
Youths come up with green solutions with National Environment Agency
From flower pots made of food waste to barriers that keep toilets clean. These are some of the innovative solutions from youths in the second batch of National Environment Agency's (NEA) sustainability programme. The programme is seeing more participation and NEA will support developing these ideas with other stakeholders. Nasyrah Abdul Rohim reports.
The Herald
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Herald
Time to go back to the drawing board on early childhood education
What type of society is this? What have our priorities been for the past 30 years, especially in the education sector? Where have we been? Social scientists and educational psychologists opine that the human brain is the last organ to develop to its fullest potential. Research indicates that it takes 20 years for the brain to get to the point where it is fully developed, meaning that the work that is done to develop the child from adolescence to early adulthood is of vital importance to engender a culture of meaning, purpose and ultimately a drive to succeed. If you miss it then, forget about the potential you will derive from the adult who has been neglected from the early years. Is it surprising that we have the challenges that we face in SA? Rising crime rates, homelessness, unemployment and general helplessness have come to define the experiences of many in our society. The question we ought to ask is what is being done to instill the right focus on early education to ensure we have better results in the future. This is not only about demonstrating how we benchmark ourselves against other nations on literacy and education. It's also about fulfilling an agenda set by the June 16 generation to create a country and a people that will hold their heads high and take their rightful place among the community of nations. A key challenge that most researchers point to is the absence of cognitive attention among our children at the age they are when they take these tests. This refers to the slow cognitive development experienced by a majority of our children in that age group. Studies such as the University of Pretoria's point to a lack of teaching skills among educators who teach at those levels, the absence of parental involvement in the education of their children and other socioeconomic challenges as the major causes of these challenges. My own assessment is that we generally don't have a vision as a country when it comes to defining the society that we want. SA's budget for basic education far exceeds that of many developing nations that face similar challenges. The results, however, are far short of those achieved in some of those countries.
National Post
6 hours ago
- Politics
- National Post
Chris Selley: Is the Liberals' 'Canada Strong Pass' a one-off gimmick, or something more substantial?
I have had some fun in the past at the expense of the Liberal Party of Canada's distinctly upper-class obsession with the Great Outdoors — this notion that every Canadian has soloed a canoe through morning mist amidst the haunting call of loons, or if they haven't, then something has gone awry. Article content I'll have a bit more fun with it here now that details of the 'Canada Strong Pass' have been released … but that's not to say there's nothing salvageable from this endeavour. Article content Article content Article content Two of the main items offered free or at a discount this summer are travel on Via Rail (free for kids travelling with an adult; 25 per cent off for 18-to-24-year-olds), and campsites at national parks, which will be free to visit during the day this summer. Article content Article content But it's the third week of June. Most people — people who aren't politicians, for example — will already have booked their vacations by now. And if they haven't, good luck finding a nice campsite before Labour Day (when the discounts terminate). Those reservations became available in January and February, depending on the park, and they go very quickly. (Perhaps ironically, those who booked before the Canada Strong Pass became official will be eligible for partial refunds.) Article content Via, for the record, directly services a single national park: Jasper. I found a 'discounted' youth fare from Toronto to Jasper on July 2 … for $503. That gets you a plain old seat, for 70 hours and 35 minutes. Airlines will get you as far as Edmonton in 4 hours for less than that. Article content Article content I found a rare available berth on Via — a seat that converts into a semi-private bunk — for the Aug. 31 departure, but the youth discount doesn't apply to those. And if it did, it would still be 25 per cent off $1,612. Article content Article content Of course Via is more useful between cities in Eastern Canada; trains don't sell out months in advance the way the long-distance routes do. But the Canada Strong Pass is framed as a national unity exercise, and at this point in our history, transporting Ontarians and Quebecers back and forth on summer holidays probably isn't going to offer much of a nationalist boost. Two Solitudes is an 80-year-old book; Canada contains more solitudes now. Article content Having vented my spleen, let me also say the notion of building national unity by encouraging domestic travel isn't at all daft, and nor is offering free or discounted entry to national museums and historic sites. Many Canadians are appallingly ignorant of the things they might learn there.
Zawya
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Zawya
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to hold regional youth conference in Senegal from the 1st to 3rd of July, 2025
From the 1st to 3rd of July 2025, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will be holding its Regional Youth Forum in Saly Portudal, Senegal, under the theme: 'Engaging ECOWAS for a new vision of youth'. This high-level meeting will bring together young leaders, representatives of youth organisations, political decision-makers and regional and international experts. It will provide an inclusive platform for dialogue on the challenges and opportunities facing young people in the ECOWAS region, particularly in the areas of employment, entrepreneurship, education and vocational training. The conference is part of the celebrations marking the fiftieth anniversary of ECOWAS, and marks an essential stage in the regional organisation's determination to strengthen the active participation of young people in building a peaceful, integrated and prosperous West Africa. They illustrate the ambition to forge a new regional vision, placing young people at the heart of social, economic and political transformation. The main objective of this initiative is to create a space for direct dialogue between young people and ECOWAS, in order to harmonise points of view on the issues faced by young people in the region, and to co-construct concrete solutions to encourage their socio-economic development and civic participation. The Saly meeting is the culmination of a series of pilot national consultations organised in several West African capitals, including Cotonou (Benin), Accra (Ghana), Yamoussoukro (Côte d'Ivoire) and Dakar (Senegal). These consultations laid the foundations for a participatory and regional process, of which the regional meetings are the concrete expression. Through this initiative, ECOWAS is reaffirming its commitment to developing innovative strategies and defining shared priorities to strengthen the involvement of young people in local, national and regional governance. This conference reflects this vision, considering young people not only as beneficiaries, but also as key players in the development of the region. Organised under the coordination of the ECOWAS Youth and Sports Development Centre (EYSDC), the conclusions of this conference will feed into the development of a strategic roadmap, in line with ECOWAS Vision 2050, and will lay the foundations for a new regional policy dedicated to youth. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
