AICTE Launches YoungWarrior Movement for Affiliate Institutions Towards COVID-Response
New Delhi : The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) hosted an exclusive virtual event today for its Chancellors, Vice Chancellors, Directors, Heads of Departments and faculty of institutions affiliated to encourage joining the nationwide #YoungWarrior movement against COVID-19. The event was attended by senior officials from UNICEF, YuWaah, AICTE and special dignitaries such as Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE, Prof. M.P. Poonia, Vice Chairman AICTE, Dhuwarakha Sriram, Chief of YuWaah (Generation Unlimited), Youth Development & Partnerships, UNICEF, Dr. Mamta Rani Agrawal, Advisor-I, ATAL Academy, AICTE and Dr. Girdhari Lal Garg, Assistant Director, ATAL, AICTE who pledged their support towards the movement.
The YoungWarrior movement is initiated by the Ministry of Youth Affairs (MoYAS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), YuWaah, UNICEF and 1350+ partners, to engage 5 million young people to take action against COVID-19 and cumulatively impact the lives of 50 million people across India. This engagement with young people is through simple real-life tasks such as encouraging family and community members to get vaccinated, busting COVID-related misinformation through fake-news busting tools, promote and amplify information on COVID-Appropriate Behaviour and provide caregiving at home, stress management, etc. In less than two months, more than 2.75 million young people between the ages of 10-30 have taken action in the #YoungWarrior movement.
The leaders discussed how technical institutions and its students have an important role to play against COVID-19 and prevention against any further wave. Students’ knowledge, skills, mindset, creativity and enthusiasm can bring out innovative ideas and solutions that can resolve social issues related to vaccine promotion, physical distancing, COVID Appropriate Behaviour, mental health, and basic hygiene.
Ms. Dhuwarakha Sriram, Chief of Generation Unlimited, YuWaah lauded the efforts of not just the notable partners of the #YoungWarrior movement, but more importantly, the tenacity and inherent spirit of the young people of India who have completely turned the movement into a nationwide success. Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE highlighted the initiatives of AICTE and its affiliate institutions towards helping and engaging with students and citizens during the lockdowns, such as launching a COVID-19 helpline through which they helped over hundreds of students, hosted various ideathons and a mega online challenge called Samadhan. He also interestingly highlighted the significance of physical distancing and social connecting and the importance of seeding of the philosophy of encouraging acts of kindness among not just young people but all citizens to help each other in this time of need. Dr. Mamta Rani Agrawal, Advisor-I, ATAL Academy, AICTE emphasized on the need to penetrate deeper into India’s villages and hinterlands in vernacular languages to communicate the awareness of Covid Appropriate Behaviour, owing to the COVID-related misinformation prevalent in smaller cities and villages.
The webinar also shed light on an upcoming week-long youth engagement in July, which will be organized by UNICEF, YuWaah and partners to encourage students and faculty to take pledges on COVID Appropriate Behavior. During this week, there will be exciting sessions conducted for students such as quizzes, youth challenges and ideathons, open mics, art workshops, capacity building sessions, etc. All participants will receive a Young Warrior certificate from UNICE-YuWaah.
In his keynote address, Prof. Anil D Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE said, “I completely align with the #YoungWarrior movement philosophy of young people being change agents. We need innovative ideas to beat this pandemic and we hope the week-long engagement will get our young people to think through and create solutions that can help. I urge to all faculties of institutions aligned to AICTE to encourage students to join and when needed mentor them. We need to enable young people in optimizing their potential and we at AICTE are delighted to be able to join YuWaah and UNICEF for doing just that.”
Dhuwarakha Sriram, Chief of Generation Unlimited, YuWaah, Youth Development & Partnerships said “The #YoungWarrior movement, being spearheaded by young people of India, shows that young people are responsible and are leading. It is heartening to see such large numbers of young warriors take charge and address the pandemic’s challenges. With support from 1,350 partners, this kind of unity and action is unprecedented. With the help of AICTE and its institutions joining in, we can only see a more robust and strengthened system to provide young warriors with all the necessary tools, resources and skills to keep leading the positive change in India.”
To join the #YoungWarrior movement, young people can engage through the following ways:
To register as a Young Warrior:
1. WhatsApp: Type YWA & send to +91-9650414141
2. Interactive voice response (IVR): Send a missed call to 0-8066019225.
3. Facebook: Join via this link through FB messenger https://m.me/ureportindia/?ref=ywa
4. Telegram: Search for ureportindia. Press Start. Type ‘YWA’ and send.
In addition, on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), take a pledge by posting your message along with "I pledge to be a #youngwarrior”, tagging 5 friends.
For more details, visit https://www.yuwaah.org/youngwarrior or YuWaah’s social media pages on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
