Today, August 12, we are celebrating International Youth Day 2020. There are more than 1.2 billion young people (between ages 15 and 24) in the world (2019 stats) currently, with India boasting world’s largest youth population ever.
We currently have hundreds of young people transforming the business right here at Commvault. In fact, just recently, we welcomed a large number of young students, fresh off the college boat, to our India CoE family. Hearing about their vision and looking at the passion and energy they’re bringing to work every single day – has simply left me speechless. Whoever said that the youth will lead the future, has said rightfully so!
On this eve, keeping in mind this year’s theme: “Youth Engagement for Global Action”. We want to celebrate young minds and their achievements, but also want to bring attention to the importance of equipping the youth with the right skill-sets from the beginning.
One of the key steps in empowering the youth is to start educating them from the bottom up, on all the crucial aspects of life and the world. As part of the South Pole Energy Challenge (SPEC), we created a student outreach program to help young minds become aware of the risks of climate change and help them realise that there are ways to make a difference and take action, even at a young age.
While pandemic has been challenging for everyone, especially our youth – to keep their spirits high, we organised a Junior Vaulter Coding Challenge, encouraging students around the world to show us their coding prowess, from home. The participants were not only encouraged to work together as a family, but also innovate by turning the simplest of things into something extraordinary. The participating young brilliant minds not only left us in awe with their creative ideas but also demonstrated that their passion and dedication know no bounds.
Today, we, as a community, need to recognise that our youth holds immense potential. The onus is on us to provide them with the right set of opportunities – to develop their own personalities, to explore their interest in understanding how the world works, to experiment, to build, and to develop their artistic, emotional and caring skills.
The first step in making this a reality is to do everything in our power, as parents, teachers, employers and mentors to encourage our youth to recognise what their career can bring to them – and just as importantly – to the wider world.
Our youth has showcased their resilience and their hunger to learn, even amidst the odds, and it is now our responsibility to guide them on the right path to become truly #FutureReady.