When taking about a change in politics many tend to focus just on negative criticism on political parties rather than engaging oneself in improving the system which I refer to civic engagement. “Civic engagement involves working to make a difference in the civic life of one’s community and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.” Despite a high criticisms on social media on how the functioning of our country and the political system are, we see only few people actually trying to engage themselves to make a positive change in the Mauritian society. Civic engagement is important to address public concerns and social issues which are further related to politics.
As responsible citizens, we must always be concerned about the good functioning of the state. Being interested in politics and civic engagement is of great importance. It makes no sense to not be interested since every political decision and every inaction to make the society better impacts our daily lives.
It must be noted change of political parties every election is not the only solution for a better Mauritius, but one must always promote the quality of life through actions.
However, it is a sad truth that youngsters are not properly empowered to engage themselves in making Mauritius a better society. Civic engagement does not simply mean to come hold political protests on the streets to ask for a change but taking constructive actions in addressing every social issues. Positive change in our surroundings for a better society does not come just from asking for it but taking appropriate actions and educate ourselves. Education is not just about the worldly thing, reading, writing, and counting. Human values are vital to the making of good citizens. We have different groups of young people across the country who are trying to engage themselves for a better society while addressing different issues – environment, drugs, health, education, sports, etc. Yet, we find many who are either prevented from taking actions or many who do not know how to do so due to lack of youth empowerment.
To strengthen youth empowerment and civic engagement, we need to adopt a holistic approach and get young people to be interested. This brings us to a reflection as to the functioning of our educational system since the past decades. We have had many reforms in the educational system, yet, we find a lack of civic engagement by the youth. In many cases, young people are discouraged to participate actively in bettering the society – loopholes which may be present in many institutions, lack of work ethics, corruption issues, poorly formulated regulations, presence of an archaic system in many institutions… On the other hand, there are many who are simply not interested because they lack the understanding of the importance of civic engagement. This is highly reflected on the participation of young people who go to vote for the elections or their participation in various initiatives being put forward by volunteers, NGOs, and other groups to address different social issues. Low participation in civic engagement, lack of interest in politics and inaction to address the social issues will always result into decisions which are often not appreciated by our citizens.
Can you imagine if all young people started reflecting on social issues and taking positive actions to address them? – I believe that it will certainly make a positive difference for the well-being of the country. Strengthening civic engagement in communities requires numerous voices.
Citizen engagement is important since it is to do with increasing the diversity of experiences, perspectives and viewpoints which are brought into public decision-making. All our lives are related to political decision-making. Every social issue is a concern for all citizens, and to have properly formulated decisions by our politicians for a better society, citizenship engagement needs to be strengthened.
Therefore, I request and urge every young citizen to get yourself engaged in taking positive actions for a better society. Civic engagement is a responsibility of every citizen.
