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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

WEEKLY ROUNDUP 

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

Being Young in Kuchma Era
This year school ends as the presidential campaign starts in Ukraine. Perhaps
never before have the power structures headed by the President paid so
much attention to young people as now. Every week Dnipropetrovsk can see
a new youth-oriented action under the aegis of the executive branch: sports
competitions, computer exhibitions accompanied by a musical show, or another
visit of Ukrainian rock stars who declare war on drug abuse and AIDS. And
while the local authorities are getting ready to receive the President
himself at the Mining Academy centennial, the city was visited by his wife
Liudmyla who met the students and patronized the opening ceremony of the
local branch of the All-Ukrainian Special Olympics.

However, the festive facade of the official functions could hardly conceal
the true state of the younger generation's problems in this country. Thus,
the first oblast-level meeting of parents' associations has disclosed alarmingly
that the birth rate in the region has almost halved in the last five years,
which is bound to steadily reduce the number of school students in the
next century. On the other hand, the number of "orphans," most of whom
were abandoned by living parents, is rising steeply. This is why the oblast
has opened four shelters, two orphanages, and five disabled children's
homes over the past four years. The number of homeless children, juvenile
delinquents, and juvenile suicides is increasing almost everywhere. What
especially shocked the meeting were the specific and by no means isolated
facts reported by public prosecutors: instances of children starving to
death. For instance, in Tomik district, it was disclosed during the autopsy
of a dead child that he had been trying to subsist on bran. In Dniprodzerzhynsk,
a child admitted to a refuge stubbornly refused to sleep between the bed
sheets, for he had been used to sleeping on the floor and in a cardboard
box since he was born.

In Dnipropetrovsk itself, 3 to 5 year-olds have repeatedly been found,
who are registered nowhere and have no first, last, or other names. Over
the past year alone, 21 criminal cases have been opened in the oblast against
parents who forced their children to beg in the streets or render sexual
favors to other people. The same data show that the number of school dropouts
has risen five-fold in the past few years. The situation in public education
is also quite revealing.

Public opinion polls show that only 18% of parents are satisfied with
the educational process in schools. About a third of schoolchildren smoke,
84% and 6% have tried alcohol and drugs, respectively. It is interesting
that, answering the question of who the pupils consider as an object of
imitation, 70% of the polled children named Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude
Van Damm, while only meager 10% see parents and teachers as role models.

When it comes to young voters it seems that unemployment among high
school and college graduates is rising by 2.5 times annually. Now, that
is something to ponder.

By Vadym RYZHKOV, The Day, Dnipropetrovsk

 

 

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