Maria Camilleri

At the beginning of another scholastic year, rushing from one thing to another going against the clock, Kunsill Studenti Universitarji President Steph Dalli managed to spend a few minutes talking about the subject of student activism.

Apart from being part of students' organisations, Steph has taken up numerous extra-curricular activities such as dancing, drama, singing, and sports. Being such an active person at a very young age, she spoke about the importance of students being active citizens - to make their voices heard and to take part in debates and discussions.

"People in their youth shouldn't be scared of saying what they believe in," she said.  "Students are the future generation so they must train from now to gain skills that, if you don't gain them now, you are not going to gain them in the future."

Although there are 50 organisations at the University, "We see a lot of apathy," Ms Dalli comments.

When she was asked why some youths are so passive she explained, "Some students. even if they want to be active, don't always know how to do it.  Many young people think that being active means that there is a social circle that they don't have a chance of entering".

In order to mitigate this problem so that more students will be encouraged  to take part in university organisations, the KSU is setting up educational and enjoyable events on a daily basis.

We are living in a dynamic society, and every decision taken will affect us in one way or another. As such we must not be afraid to voice our ideas, opinions and concerns. We have the right to freedom of speech and we can make good use of such a powerful tool.

As Gandhi said, you have to "be the change you want to see in the world".