Praneeta Prakash 
[Photo: FILE]
Empowering young people with knowledge of history is a key focus of this year’s Girmit commemorations.
Multi-Ethnic Affairs Permanent Secretary Dr Vinesh Kumar says young people must understand the journey and sacrifices of the Girmit generation to appreciate the opportunities they have today.
He warns that many youths growing up in a modern digital environment risk losing connection with the past if efforts are not made to keep history alive.
Dr Kumar says the Ministry is actively engaging youth with activities designed to make history more meaningful and relatable.
“It is very important for us to let them know when they wake up now with a smartphone, or they wake up in an air-conditioned room or whatever, they should also be understanding. For them to reach up there, there was a journey. There was a painful journey as well. A lot of sacrifices being made. There was a lot of hardships.”
Dr Kumar says while the Girmit era had many hardships, it also played a major role in building the country’s social, cultural and economic foundations.
One of the messages we always say to the youths, again, if you want to talk about resilience, you talk about hardship you’re facing now, you look at just to reflect in time on what they went through.
Assistant Minister Shalen Lal also highlighted the importance of passing history on to younger generations
“Preserving Girimit stories keeps the history alive, it keeps our Girimit history alive and our origin alive, and it reminds us that Fiji was built through sacrifice, resilience, and unity.”
For this year’s celebrations, social media platforms will be used to share historical content and educational materials in formats that are easier for young people to understand and engage with.
