Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ inaugurates the “International Adolescent Summit: Life Skills, Health, Safety and School Wellbeing”

Acknowledging the power of the youth of the country, Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Minister of Education, said that the onus lies on the teachers, authors and educationists of the country to ensure that correct knowledge is disseminated to the youth in order to build Vishwa Nagriks. Dr Nishank was speaking at the inauguration of the virtual edition of 9th International Adolescent Summit 2020: Life Skills, Health, Safety & School Wellbeing on 18 December 2020. In his inaugural address, the Minister also said that the youth of the country is at a point in their lives where their thinking is their foundation for the rest of their lives. It is their beliefs that will make them reach their full potential and not to lose even a single moment of their life.

While releasing the souvenir Sandarshika and the Indian Journal of School Health and Well-Being, Dr Nishank congratulated National Book Trust, India (the Knowledge Partners at the event) and also Expressions India (the organizer) for this visionary initiative.

Prof. Govind Prasad Sharma, Chairman, National Book Trust, India in his Keynote Address talked about adolescence being a tender age where a person goes through self-realisation and requires the right guidance and mentorship to build his life. He talked about the importance of introducing the adolescents to the rich Indian culture and history at this age so that they inculcate human values and ethos early on.

Yuvraj Malik, Director, National Book Trust, India spoke about the immense potential and the many dreams that the youth in the country has; and it is the collective responsibility of the nation to ensure that the youth is empowered with such life-skills that they can realise these dreams and unleash their true potential. He cited examples of Sachin Tendulkar, Arunima Sinha, Anne Frank and Hon’ble Minister of Education Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on being youth icons for the hardships they overcame early on in their lives to achieve their goals.      

Dr. Jitendra Nagpal, Programme Director, Expressions India in his introductory address spoke on the objective to understand and review the concept, needs and trends of School Health and life skills, values education, in national and global perspectives and research, and how this summit will focus on ensuring integration of school safety, sanitation, nutrition, hygiene and health promotion program within the comprehensive school health education curriculum and life skills programming. 

The International Adolescent Summit will be held from 18 December 2020 to 12 January 2021 on the virtual platform, with various programs for all age-groups. With the participation of nearly 1200 schools from the across the country with more than 16,000 students, the four-week event would give a chance to the students and teachers to interact with other schools from all over the country. During the course of the event, many Youth icons will also interact with the children.