Generation Unlimited is a global multi-sector partnership to meet the urgent need for expanded education, training and employment opportunities for young people, aged 10 to 24, on an unprecedented scale. To learn more, visit generationunlimited.org. There is no alternative to teaching leadership skills at the grassroots level. That is why Lal Sabuj Society, the organisation I created in 2015, recently hosted the workshop 'Learn to Lead' to develop leadership skills. 45 students participated in this session in Barishal city, Bangladesh. I'd like to share 5 of the issues and topics we discussed...

The cases and death rates caused by Corona Virus -2019 have been increasing rapidly around the world. Most of the researchers earlier said that it would not affect young, teenagers and children but the recent situation made everyone believe that they can be affected by Corona at any time! According to the estimation of the United Nations the world’s population in 2019 youths numbered 1.2 billion persons between ages 15 to 24. In developed countries number of youth population are 207 million, among those countries the Covid 19 cases aged 10-19 and 20-29 are: In Italy 3.7% to 5.9%, South Korea 5...

My Name is Shamayel Shahir Khan. I live in Bangladesh and I'm 15. The situation is going worse here day by day. We are home quarantined for almost a month, we don't have anywhere to go. I miss all my friends and relatives. I miss all my teachers and school. It's so boring that I can't even explain. We all are doing online classes while staying at home. I hope that this COVID-19 vanishes and we all go back to our normal lives. Please pray for us.

I am a boy of SOS Youth House Khulna and live in a boarding house at Dhaka. I am studying B.Sc. Engineering in Textile in Daffodil International University. Just after the completion of my 2nd year mid-final exam, the coronavirus (COVID-19) started breaking out in different parts of the world and my university got closed. Our boarding house was made vacant. Then I returned to SOS Youth House Khulna to stay for some days to keep myself safe from Coronavirus. We have been home quarantined for 16 days. At the beginning, I was stressed thinking about my study. Our teachers declared that our...

INTRODUCTION The year is 2016, and I've got some time after taking my High School Exam. During that time I got a chance to know more about my society, surroundings, and culture. I started work at a night school as a paid volunteer, and the first thought came to my mind, most of the students are senior to me. How will I deal with this sort of problem? When I talked to the principal of that night school, he encouraged me a lot and said to me “you can teach other students, as they are more senior and maintain professionalism”. My night school students are not that serious about the grade, but...

Today is a day entirely for celebrating indigenous people and their unique cultures. Indigenous people lead very amusing lives, something I'm quite keen about as personally, I find learning about cultures quite fascinating, especially under-represented and unheard ones. Indigenous people have quite a history too, dating back thousands of years. They are found in over 90 countries, speak 4000 of the world's languages and there are 476 million of them in this world! In my country, Bangladesh, the main ethnic groups are Garo, Marma, Shawtal, Monipuri and Tripura. Bangladeshi tribes either have...

Have you heard of the term, "two sides of the same coin"? Humanity has two sides, just like a coin. If a coin has one side, it wouldn't be anything of value or anything at all. Humanity, like coins have two sides: males and females. Just like a coin, if humanity, for example, only had the male gender, it would all be meaningless without their female counterparts. In every living organism, males and females are integral. They all have an equal role to fulfill in creating life and leading the way for others to follow suit. So, if, among the 100%, 50% are males and 50% are females, equality...

Like a sunny sky that spreads warmth and happiness to most, my family helps me stand on my two feet. They remind me how enjoyable each and every day in my life can be. My family consists of me, an older brother, mom and dad. My brother studies abroad, but technology never made us feel too distant. We miss his company from time to time. He used to be my partner in mischief before, his physical presence beside us is probably the only thing virtual communications can't give us. The ongoing pandemic made us come to terms with various things. New and old. Relations restored and revalued while...

On the 18th of July, it was Nelson Mandela Day. On this day, every year, on Mandela's birthday, all of us across the globe honor his efforts, efforts that ended apartheid which was a system where white people were treated better than black people in his country, South Africa. On this day, I couldn't help but wonder how he was so dedicated to his cause that even while imprisoned for 27 years for fighting for his people, he continued fighting for black people in peace. He REFUSED to give up on his race's unfair treatment and was dauntless for 27 TEDIOUS YEARS IN PRISON. In South Africa, black...

Plastic is eating Earth alive, bit by bit, it is slowly destroying our only potential home. There are 7.5 billion of us in the world right now and more than half of us use plastic items in our daily lives. Some items include bags, bottles, containers, cutlery, plates, straws, cups, decorations and hundreds more! This is absolutely horrifying. Worse, humans are producing 300 million tons of plastic every year! So, why is plastic so harmful to the environment? Unlike other materials we use and dispose of, such as glass, paper, wood or metal, the material, plastic takes hundreds, even thousands...

Art has become a new passion of mine during quarantine. Before, I never really considered myself good at art, but rather writing, writing anything like stories, poetry, essays, reports etc. I've always been a writer and history fanatic at heart, but never an artist. However, despite being good at writing, I was and still am a person discovering myself and home confinement has made me discover that I have great potential for art too! I'm not going to lie, I used to have admiration and slight envy at great artists. I always wanted to be great at art too, but my gut told me I could never be and I...

Those days you relished Have now perished Demons feed on the wounds Of your head And laugh at the dread Those scars you hide The weight you carry inside Is where all demons hide Feeding away at your inner child The part you most reviled They scream at the sound of silence And ignore your defiance You let out a scream While the demons scheme You hear the joy within you perishing And the demons relishing Eating away the sublimity And disrupting the serenity "Help!", you scream While the demons lips' salivate And your head slowly disintegrates Until the humanity in you fades Within you, there is...

I am Syeda Sabiqun Nahar from Bangladesh. I dream of a world where 'discrimination' is no longer present among us, rather, it would just become a term coined in our least liked part of the history. I hope to see a world where people from around the globe irrespective of their gender, class, creed and preferences join forces to provide a greener and safer environment for their children. I wish to live in a world where women and children are stronger and safe with the support of their family. And underneath the masks we're wearing today, may everyone's smiles remain unscathed. #voicesofyouth

During this ongoing pandemic, I now truly realize the vital roles doctors and healthcare workers play in our lives. As of this pandemic, we all hail doctors and healthcare workers as heroes, but they were heroes from the start, before COVID-19 even started. They ALWAYS put themselves at risk by treating patents with contagious diseases, not only during this outbreak. Now, they are receiving the recognition they should have gotten long ago. They are at their respective hospitals nearly 24/7. They wear the same mask for almost 12-14 hours as there is a scarcity of them at the hospital because...

If someone asks me, "How is the time of lockdown in your eyes?" I then remember one of my favorite people who said, "It's a precious time. Unwanted, but welcome." I believe most readers are frowning, "What does this girl say? We're getting bored of sitting at home, going crazy with depression and frustration, and she thinks it's a good time?" Then if I say more, lockdown would rather saved me from depression, how would you react? The thing is : introverts see the world in a different way which the extroverts cannot understand. I want the world to know how introverts see the world. The school...

Bangla New Year's, popularly called Pohela Boishakh is the first day of the Bengali calendar, just as the 1st of January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. Pohela Boishakh is celebrated every year on the 14th of April and is a national holiday in Bangladesh and some parts of India. The greeting for the occasion is Shubho Noboborsho (শুভ নববর্ষ), meaning Happy New Year! Pohela Boishakh is celebrated since the time of Emperor Akbar, hundreds of years ago, when he introduced the Bengali calendar. The festival is celebrated by Bangaldeshis with a riot of colors, from the...

Many say the year, 2020 AD was the worst they’ve experienced. The loved ones of some perished to the virus and the long-awaited plans of some had been put on hold. Some of us were also quite eager to see the sunshine again, the birds sing, the flowers bloom and this cold veil, the outbreak lifts itself off of this world. Most had desires so mere, yet so lofty. All people wanted was to do what they did last year and the years before: live normally again, breathe once again some outer air. However, before this outbreak, people were tired of living monotonous lives and they craved some change...

In today's time, the whole education system got collapsed by the grisly palm of Covid-19. So to fight against this unexpected moment and the sine dine situation, to keep up the quality of education there need to hold the education system. Non-formal education, a stream of education system is a way to bring possible changes in the education system. There are a good number of student mostly in the developing countries like Bangladesh already dropped out of the school because of several issues (e.g. Financial issues, Health issues). So to bring back to education, Non-formal education can work...