By REBECCA TORR
Published: 9th October 2006
A BAHRAINI youth group is eagerly waiting to find out if its proposal to His Majesty King Hamad to further reduce the voting age from 20 to 19 has been accepted.
The Bahraini Youth Forum Society (BYFS) put forward the recommendation at an audience with the King at Al Safriya Palace, in which they asked for the decree to be made before the elections next month.
Initially the group wanted to reduce the voting age to 18 in line with international standards, but at a mock national assembly last month the majority of delegates agreed 19 would be more acceptable, BYFS vice-president Enas Al Fardan told the GDN.
By REBECCA TORR
Published: 9th October 2006
A BAHRAINI youth group is eagerly waiting to find out if its proposal to His Majesty King Hamad to further reduce the voting age from 20 to 19 has been accepted.
The Bahraini Youth Forum Society (BYFS) put forward the recommendation at an audience with the King at Al Safriya Palace, in which they asked for the decree to be made before the elections next month.
Initially the group wanted to reduce the voting age to 18 in line with international standards, but at a mock national assembly last month the majority of delegates agreed 19 would be more acceptable, BYFS vice-president Enas Al Fardan told the GDN.
“We want to reduce the voting age because we need to increase youth participation in political activities,” she explained.
The society also appealed to His Majesty to seriously address management and administration concerns at Bahrain University, by increasing the number of teachers and courses for students.
Ms Al Fardan said since tuition fees had been reduced a few years ago, more Bahraini students had enrolled at the university, only to find out there weren’t enough seats for particular courses.
“There are 25,000 students in Bahrain University and they don’t have the capability to handle this number so we have appealed for a national university sponsored by the government.”
Bahrain University’s student council was another area of concern that was discussed. Council members need training and direction to empower them to effectively take up student concerns, said Ms Al Fardan.
The society also recommended that the General Organisation for Youth and Sports (Goys) do more to financially and emotionally support young, rather than focusing mainly on sport. Lastly, the group asked for financial help for the society and a premises.
“The King was very positive and said all the recommendations will be studied and some implemented and some may take a while.”
The recommendations were also discussed with Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa at a separate audience.
In particular, the society asked for laws related to young to be standardised.
“At the moment some laws consider youth to be from 16, others from 18 and 20,” Ms Al Fardan said
Meanwhile, Ms Al Fardan said the society was planning a joint conference with the Labour Ministry in November, which would address how to increase the salaries of low-income youth.
© Gulf Daily News
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/story.asp?Article=158223&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=29203
