Trends

Muslim youngsters today show greater interest in family and religion, rather than in celebrities and their associated lifestyle. The community should strengthen this positive trend by starting concrete Muslim youth mentoring programmes.


Today’s Muslim youth are reversing many trends that peaked in the early 1990s. Contrary to media projection, Muslim youngsters are becoming family oriented and taking an active part in community upliftment.

Islamic Voice in association with ‘Trends Research and Analysis Centre’ (TRAC), conducted a random survey in Mumbai to find out who the current mentors of today’s Muslim youth are. The sample size was 307 Muslim youth, aged between 18 to 28.


The study revealed the following preference as mentor by Muslim youth:


Mentors - Percentage

Parents - 22
Teacher - 20
Religious leader/ Preacher - 18
Professional/ expert - 17
Social worker - 9
Masjid Imam - 7
Head of Islamic organisation - 7


Today’s kids are more apt to trust parents (22 percent), teachers (20 percent) and religious leader/ preacher (18 percent). Volun-teerism is up. A random survey of college students in January 2007 showed 56.2 percent of students who reportedly engaged in volunteer work, compared to 36 percent in 2004. Youth now form the most religious age bracket in India.


Participation in religious groups among teens rose from 17 percent to 28 percent between 2004 and 2007 (TRAC). Unlike earlier generations, the new youngsters have a near-zero generation gap, and parent-child co-decisions are common.


When you ask this generation who their heroes are, the majority say, their parents. Media and organisations seeking to appeal to this generation in the name of rebellion will increasingly fall flat. Today’s Muslim youth are expected to retain close parental bonds even after leaving home, and they are more likely to consult with their parents on major decisions. The parents of today’s youth are increasingly found on campus, monitoring any physical or moral threat to their children’s progress.


Today’s youth show greater interest in family, religion and community, at the expense of celebrity role models and their associated life style. Today’s youth appear to be using rapid-fire communication via the Internet and other peer-to-peer media to build a newly inclusive “one” from their wildly diverse origins. What is needed is to strengthen the current trends by starting concrete Muslim youth mentoring programmes.


There are many perspectives on the definition of mentoring, especially since the relatively recent popularity of personal and professional coaching. Traditionally, mentoring might have been described as the activities conducted by a person (the mentor) for another person (the mentee) in order to help that other person to do a job more effectively and/or to progress in their career. The mentor was probably someone who had “been there, done that” before. Today, there seems to be much ongoing discussion and debate about the definitions and differences regarding coaching and mentoring.


Muslim organisations, corpor-ate, educ-ational institutions managed by Muslims and professionals should extend a helping hand in making the future of Muslim youth secure and also bright. They must initiate Muslim youth mentoring programmes. How it can be done?


Evaluations of mentoring programmes have shown that a youth’s one-to-one relationship with a supportive adult can lead to a number of positive outcomes. These include improved academic achie-vement, a stronger sense of self-worth, improved relation-ships with parents, and increase in community commitment.


These benefits of mentoring emerge for youth who are in relationships that have been able to develop and endure. Mentors promote positive outcomes when they serve as role models, provide emotional support and positive feedback and become a steady, reliable, constructive presence in the lives of youth.


Mentoring relationships that take hold are likely to grow progressively more effective over time. But while some mentor-youth relationships last for several years, many end within a few months. These short-lived matches are unlikely to result in positive outcomes for youth. And, there is some evidence that they can have negative effects associated with the youth’s feelings of being rejected.


Today’s Muslim youth can achieve excellence in their profession if given a mentor to guide them who can teach them and guide them to other sources and individuals who are knowledgeable and professio-nally competent.


Programmes should match mentors and youth on the basis of shared interests and youth, mentor, and family preference. There is no perfect method to matching a mentor and youth, but the age, gender, and education of the volunteer, matter much less than his or her outlook on mentoring.


The most successful mentor-youth relationships exist for at least a year, with meetings of at least an hour a week. The mentor should always assume he or she will initiate contact, because youth are not likely to initiate contact on their own.


Mentoring sessions should involve structured activities and mentors and youth should be equals in planning sessions. Social and academic activities, such as going to lunch, attending events or visiting seminars, and teaching in the real life environment are best.


Mentoring programmes sho-uld screen volunteers thoroughly, both in terms of safety and suitability for mentoring. Volunteers should complete a written application and in-person interview and provide references. The programme should check that the volunteer does not have a criminal record.


Volunteers also need to be screened for their outlook on the mentoring process. The most suitable mentors see their goal as supporting the child and helping him foster positive relationships in his life, rather than simply achieving good grades or staying out of trouble. They are willing to allow the child to make decisions about activities or lessons, and to refrain from being too judgemental or “preachy.”


Volunteers should receive more than two hours of training before they begin mentoring. Training should emphasize building a trusting relationship with the child, and provide the mentor with general information about youth development, as well as specific information about the youth in the programme. The programme should also give the mentor strategies for coping with a child who will test the limits and patience of a mentor.


Programmes should also support mentors throughout the process. If possible, youth mentoring programmes should have a staff member committed solely to mentor development, who will contact the mentor at least once a month. Staff can also assist mentors more directly through writing lesson plans or suggesting activities. Mentors do their best work when their effort is focused on the mentor-child relationship rather than on logistics or administration. Overall, mentors who are screened, trained, and supported properly are likely to stick with mentoring and have a positive impact on youth.


(The writer can be reached at mhl@rediffmail.com)