Many of you may by now be familiar with the Junior Youth Empowerment Programme (JYEP). It is a program designed to address the unique needs of junior youth aged 11 – 15 who are in a transition period between childhood and youth. This is a time in their lives when many changes are occurring within them. It is during these few years that fundamental concepts about life are formulated in their minds, and more or less set the course for their development for the rest of their lives.
During this time of transition, one is ever seeking answers to questions, often philosophical ones. This is the age during which a new consciousness rapidly develops. Junior youth at this age especially do not like to be lectured; they need space to ask their questions, find answers, and set a sound course for the rest of their life.
It is because of these special needs of junior youth that enhancing the power of expression has been chosen as a central concern of programs for the empowerment of acquisition of the mechanical skills of reading, writing and speech. It requires the ability to read with good comprehension – thinking about the deeper meanings in a text, the ability to describe one’s own ideas with clarity and eloquence, and to articulate concepts with precision.
We live at a time when humanity is facing moral bankruptcy. The standards that guided human beings for centuries are steadily losing their influence. The language the junior youth learn through this program are rich enough to enable them to understand the powerful social, cultural and ideological forces that are shaping people’s conduct, and the powers that are needed to transform these values.
Junior youth have the capacity to become leaders of change in society, the capacity to use their knowledge to serve humanity and to build a more just, unified and peaceful world. Splendour School, in their efforts to help junior youth prepare themselves to become these leaders, has achieved a level of distinction in its use of the Junior Youth Empowerment Programme.