Youths have led protests, revolutions and had an important role in changing century-long governing systems, but they have often been neglected when making important decisions. Active participation of youths in decision making and policy making is necessary to incorporate youth issues while formulating law and executing it. However, There is only five percent representation of youths in the Nepali parliament which is far below than the global average of 13.5 percent.
“After I finished high school, I told my parents that I wanted to join politics. To my greatest surprise, this single thought gave multiple troubles to my parents. Politics was not a choice for us. The word ‘Us’ represents middle-class families like mine though people like us have a significant role in Nepali society,” says prominent youth activist Suyog Dhakal.
“Due to the orthodox system in politics, to evolve as a politician one must go through this system or process to be a politician. It starts with being a follower, almost a devotee towards a certain political ideology, being involved in political campaigns and revolutions, measured by acts like how many times one goes into prison, leads the crowd to demonstrate and destruct during the protest and then go through all the hierarchical timeframe and internal progression which is often unfair,” he adds.
