Essay writing Competition in University Campus (Concept Note)

Introduction:

Pakistan is the youth majority country where more than 65% population is below 35 years of age while the percentage of young population between 16 and 35 years is more than 40%. Youth rich Pakistan has recently seen its youth taking keen interest in the political process. The youth that is politically aware and that played a great role in significantly improving turn-out rate in the previous elections, has been deemed to have potential of being one of the major catalyst forces shaping and fueling a democratic evolution in Pakistan. This evolution is expected to inculcate responsible citizenship and pose to be a strong hedge against dictatorial takeovers in future.

The post 2013 general election political situation, allegations of rigging, counter allegation, perceivably unmet promises of the political parties, media hype and media sensationalism create a perfect recipe for a young voter who has voted for the first time in his life to get dis-satisfied with the democratic process and electoral system in Pakistan. This situation demands that the youth be educated about fundamental rights, democratic process, electoral mechanisms, functions of different organs of the state and concepts of citizenship so that they may relate themselves with the democracy and the state systems and do not get strayed from the path of democracy and pluralism.

To engage youth in civic education, CPDI has taken an initiative to work with leading universities of Pakistan and promote culture of civic learning in co-curricular activities. There shall be a range of co-curricular activities supported by this initiative including essay writing competitions. This essay writing competition will urge students to study and write about the matters related to state systems, civic rights and responsibilities, electoral and democratic processes. The ultimate intent to engage students in these activities is to make them responsible citizens who know all the above mentioned aspects of citizenship and prepare themselves for their future leadership role in society.

Topics

• Transparency and accountability ensure strong democracy.
• Social media has left revolutionary impact on our social and political lives
• Only youth can guarantee prosperous future for Pakistan
• Role of the media as opinion maker on national issues
• Informed choices is the essence of democracy
• Provincial Autonomy strengthens federation
• Fundamental rights a slogan or reality?
• Local government is solution to our problems
• Participatory system of governance is the best system
• Good governance what we need…

Guidelines

• The competition is open to all students who are currently studying in the University Campus
• All essays must be submitted to Dean of social Science or relevant authorities appointed by University Faculty members and CPDI representatives.
• The student must fill registration from before submission of the essay
• The word count for the eligible essays shall be between 2000 to 2500 words
• The word count includes footnotes, but does not include references/bibliography.
• Only one entry per student is permitted
• No revisions to entries are permitted once submitted
• Entries must be submitted in either Microsoft Word (doc, docx) format or PDF format. No other formats are acceptable.

Besides essay competition other students can also participate in speech competition on the topics mentioned above.

KEY DATES:

Registration starts:                                                         24/ 08/ 2015
Submission Deadline:                                                     15/ 09/ 2015
Speech , Quiz Competition and Prize Distribution:       21/ 09/ 2015

Venue: Department of Management Science, Garden Campus, AWKUM

Civic Education Orientation on 9th September, 2015 at 10:00 pm (Venue: Department of Management Science,
Garden Campus, AWKUM)

AWARDS:

• Participation certificates to the contestants
• Appreciation certificates to the top three performers
• Cash Prizes for top three position holders
• The lowest prize money shall not be less than PKR 5000

Note: Any queries on the competition should be addressed to University Panel (mutually appointed)

This may be submitted to undersigned.