Through the use of the Arts, music and drama, among other creative avenues, the School of the Nations in partnership with Government is pushing this campaign to help deter youths from the path of negativity.
Principal of School of the Nations, Dr Brian O’Toole said that this campaign is taking a different approach from what young people may be accustomed to. It’s meant to be as creative as possible while delivering the message that they should not participate in any illegalities but focus on the positive aspects of life.
“Instead of that, we want to look at those issues that are totally new issues facing the youths of the world particularly the stuff that is on the internet but to present it in a way through arts and music and drama so that we can look at the creative ways to put over these messages. [Ways] which look at the challenges that our youths face in terms of alcohol, drugs, violence, the internet, bullying. But to try to do it in a new way because our youths are tired of old people like myself getting up and pontificating and telling them what they should do.”
According to Dr O’Toole, the shooting incident that he was involved in some 11 weeks ago at his residence propelled such an initiative because it had a domino effect on other schools in the country as well as Guyana’s image in the international arena where many questions are being asked.
“Of what kind of society we have? Is this a place we want to invest in? And I am 95 per cent certain that the shooting was related to the horrible video game fortnight which, incidentally, Prince Harry has now started a campaign in England to ban that game. So this whole night is about our response at Nations but not the solution but we are in the process of launching a very exciting campaign, the Yes Youths Can Move The World campaign.”
According to School of the Nations’ Principal, the time is ripe for focusing on the positive aspects of the country. In fact, this is the aim of the new campaign that was launched on Thursday night at the residence of the British High Commissioner in Georgetown. According to Dr O’Toole, this campaign is the response of School of the Nations to such extreme violence, and while it is not the solution, it is a step in the right direction.
He added that instead of all the negatives, “what we want to do is change the discourse a little bit or not a little bit, we want to change the discourse significantly to what are we going to do to face that kind of mayhem. What happened to a sad little 17-year-old who jumps out of the bushes and shoots three times with the intent to kill? What creates that?”
Additionally, he said that already the support for this campaign has been tremendous, both the Government and the Private Sector have signalled their commitment to being a part of it. Meanwhile, British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn, posited that such an initiative should be adopted and promoted by all.
