FORTY students from secondary schools across the country will be debating a number of issues, including the proposed cap on Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects and the budding oil-and-gas sector when this year’s youth parliament is convened later this month.

Since the re-introduction of the Youth Parliament in 2015, only issues based on the Commonwealth were discussed and this year the planning committee decided to take an independent approach to encourage a wider discussion, Clerk of Committee Jocette Bacchus said at press conference at Parliament Building on Thursday.
With the assistance of former youth parliamentarians, the committee was able to create an objective motto which reads “Our generation, our voice, to inspire, encourage and impact.”
“We will work towards our motto from here on since it has become an annual activity… prior to this year, only issues on [the] Commonwealth were discussed, so this year we will allow students to expound on more topical issues,” she said.
Apart from the issues listed earlier, the young parliamentarians will be debating topics such as suicide prevention and the border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela.
Prior to being exposed to the seats of Parliament, Bacchus said students will have an opportunity to interact with parliamentarians from both the opposition and government.
“There will be many activities from August 6-12 to allow students to prepare themselves for the debates,” said the Clerk of Committee.
Out of the lot, 13 of them are boys and the remainder, girls. According to Assistant Clerk of Committee, Dellon Adams, they were aiming to have an equal balance of the genders, but the Ministry of Education was tasked with selecting the students.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS
They were nonetheless able to get schools from nine of the 10 administrative regions to be a part of the activity. Out of those, two private schools have been included this year.
“We want to get everyone involved, because our aim is to promote parliamentary democracy, hone leadership skills and outreach skills,” said Bacchus.
Some of the schools that will be involved include Port Kaituma Secondary, Region One (Barima-Waini); Zeeburg Secondary Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); Apex Academy Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica); Novar Secondary Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice); Paramakatoi Secondary Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni); and the McKenzie High School Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Upper Berbice).
Schools such as the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre and the New Opportunity Corp did not participate this year.
The Youth Parliament nevertheless remains relevant to youths, said Assistant Youth Co-ordinator Eden Corbin, who is also a former youth parliamentarian.
“It has done a great job in my view because it directed me in my career path… I am now the International Affairs Committee Chairman at the UWI, St. Augustine Campus and I would not have been able to accomplish this without the guidance from the youth parliament,” he asserted.
In addition, it allowed him as well as other participants to take an interest in parliament and governance.