PM encourages youth to pursue excellence

Prime Minister Andrew Holness is encouraging young people toremain unwavering in their pursuit of excellence.

“You are our hope and future and I want to encourage you to continue to shine as an example to the rest of us,” he said. “Never allow the positions that you have taken to pursue excellence to be mocked, to be in any way deterred.”

The prime minister was addressing local authority representatives, youth mayors and members of the junior councils from the 14 municipalities during a courtesy call at Jamaica House in St. Andrew on Wednesday.

The visit was part of activities for Local Government and Community Development Month, which is being observed in November, under the theme ‘Building Resilient Communities through Local Governance’.

While noting that the youth are often negatively portrayed on social media, which is “feeding into the national consciousness that our young people are in crisis,” Holness said that there is a lot of good to be highlighted and promoted.

“I see, every day, young people who are doing very well,young people who represent the best of us, young people, who, regardless of their circumstance, the conditions of their existence, the socio-economic grouping that they come from… have decided that they are not going to take the path of least resistance,” he said.

“They have decided that they are going to strive for the highest ideals…that they are going to stand up for order and discipline in their schools,” Holness continued.

He said that the students from across the island who have been elected as youth mayors and council members are “a representation of the excellence of the country”.

He contended that positive activities like the Youth Council programme and the involvement of young people in Local Government and Community Development Month should be widely shared on social media.