CALL OF THE WILD: Edinburgh awardees on an expedition

If you are aged between 14 and 25 years and enjoy adventure, sports, expeditions, community service or just having fun, this could be what you were waiting for. Designed for the personal development of young people, the Duke of Edinburgh?s Award exposes youngsters to all kinds of lifestyles and cultures and help them take decisions independently through activities outside the campus. The award will enter its 50th year in 2006.

It is a four-section programme with three levels: Bronze (for those aged 14 and over), Silver (for those aged 15 and over) and Gold (for those aged 16 and over). The sections include service (helping people in the community), skills (covering almost any hobby, skill or interest), recreation (sport, dance and fitness) and expeditions (training for planning a journey on foot or otherwise).

The award is delivered by over 400 organisations (Operating Authorities) in the UK licensed to run the programme through Award Groups in youth clubs, voluntary organisations, open award centres, schools, colleges, young offender institutes and businesses. Operating Authorities include local authorities and national voluntary organisations and they authorise the awards once the conditions have been met.

You can apply for the programme of your choice. If selected, you could be doing the course anywhere in the world ? from China to Australia to the UK, through an exchange programme. The Award includes all your programme expenses. Youth workers, teachers, employers, trainers, instructors, assessors and individuals from the community run the Award Groups. They voluntarily share their skills to help young people reach their potential. Generally, it takes a participant six to 12 months to complete a Bronze Award; 12 to 18 months for a Silver Award and 18 to 24 months for a Gold Award. All awards must be completed by the participant's 25th birthday.

So, what do awardees do? They learn through activities and interaction, mostly outdoors. ?These young people experience a variety of learning and teaching styles with people from different walks of life; take decisions of increasing complexity and accept responsibility for the consequences; discover new talents and abilities and test values and beliefs. It could be through a trek through the countryside or through community service in the form of interacting with and helping out people in old age homes,? says Victor Rao, education counsellor, British Council.

?Over the years, Edinburgh awards have served to shape young personalities. The exposure and the training boost a youngster?s confidence. And this automatically gets reflected in their academic performance,? says Debanjan Chakrabarty, communications-head of British Council. Agrees foreign education consultant Shekhar Niyogi of Education Unlimited. ?More than anything else, this exposure trains you to work hard to reach your goal, academic or otherwise,? he says.

Whatever activity you take part in, the authorities monitor your progress closely. Your performance has to reach a satisfactory level to get a certificate.

And that?s not the only prize that awaits you at the end of the programme. You have a date with the royalty if you successfully complete the course. You could be visiting a royal palace in the UK for a Gold award presentation in the presence of the Duke himself.

There is an entry fee payable on first joining the award. Operating Authorities can also help young people seek sponsorship locally.