Scouting & Guiding

Hundred years of existence is a remarkable achievement for any organization, association or movement. It is overwhelming to know that the two major movements in the world, namely the scout movement and the guide movement have crossed hundred years. They have not only grown in numbers, they have also spread to every nook and corner of this world. The fact that several heads of states (including president, prime minister, kings and ministers) throughout the world, several scientists, several astronauts, several sports person, those from the industrial and technological sector and so on have been active members of scouting and guiding goes on to signify how much scouting and guiding is valuable.

 There are more than 28 million scouts, young people and adults, male and female, in 216 countries and territories.

Some 300 million people have been scouts, including prominent people in every field.

Those who succeed best are those who learned scouting while they were still boys.

The first man to have stepped on the moon in the year 1969, Neil Armstrong was a former scoutmaster and an “Eagle scout”.

Of the 214 US astronauts’, 142 have taken part in scouting.

Of the 12 American astronauts who have walked in moon, 11 have been scouts!

It is a fact that a large number of those who have gone through the school of scouting have gone on to carve out distinguished careers in life others have become academicians, doctors, engineers, artists, religion leaders, top executives in the corporates sectors, head of NGOs etc.

Bill Clinton, former President of USA, Albert II, King of Belgium, Tony Blair, former PM of UK, Tunku Abdul Rahman, First Prime Minister of Malaysia, Ryutaro Hashimoto, former Prime minister of Japan, Richard Attenborough, Actor, Film Director/Producer, Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft corporation, Cliff Richard, Singer, Dudley Robert Herschbach and Peter agre are two know Eagle scouts who are Nobel Prize recipients, both for chemistry.

For almost 100 years, scouting programs have installed in youth the values fond in the scout promise and scout law. Today, these values are just as relevant in helping youth grow to their full potential as they were in 1910. Scouting helps youth develop academic skills, self-confidence, ethics, leadership skills and citizenship skills that influence their adult lives.
Scouting provides youth with programmes and activities such as camping, first aid, estimation, signalling, observation, cooking, mapping, pioneering., that allow them to

• Try new things
• Provide service to others
• Build self-confidence
• Reinforce ethical standards

While various activities and youth groups teach basic skills and promote teamwork, scouting goes beyond that and encourages youth to achieve a deeper appreciation for service to others in their community.
Scouting provides youth with a sense that they are important as individual. It is communicated to them that those in the scouting family care about what happens to them, regardless of whether a game is won or lost.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, scouting promotes activities lead to personal responsibility and high self-esteem. As a result, when hard decisions have to be made, peer pressure can be resisted and the right choices can be made.