An Open Interview with Ms. Pooja Sehgal, Principal, Kanya Kubja Public School, Kanpur On Youth Engagement, Disturbances, and the Future Ahead

From social anxieties and emotional issues to bureaucratic indifference and cyber burnout, the path towards quality engagement is too often marked with what are today referred to by experts as "abruptions"—unplanned interruptions that are obstacles to pace and motivation.

To gain more insight into this paradox of passion and disruption, Edinbox Intern Ananya Awasthi spoke with Ms. Pooja Sehgal, Principal of Kanpur's Kanya Kubja Public School, and experienced career counselor and educationist. In this honest interview below, she breaks down the math of youth participation in these times, peer and family network influence, and the need for mass-scale, comprehensive support networks that are able to equip young changemakers not just with their voice, but keep it.

Q1: Your views on the recent youth involvement in civic, political, and social life?

Ms. Sehgal: Young people aren't on the margins anymore—they're leading the revolution. Whether they're organizing about global warming or organizing social movements through the internet, they're redefining what it means to participate. They're a generation of native digital beings who can inherit the world and transform it with big ideas and a sense of fairness. Participation isn't something extra—it's how they live.

Q2: But this engagement isn’t always sustained. What causes disruption or what you’ve termed “abruption”?

Ms. Sehgal: From political to social activism, intellectual to cultural engagement, youth participation is authentic participation by young people in society's life. Participation is through one or more of a set of multiple entry points, but it is often interrupted by personal, emotional or social break points coming in between the ease with which young people get engaged into the social processes of their causes - we refer to it as "abruption."

Q3: What is the influence of peer networks and families in youth engagement?

Ms. Sehgal: Activism isn't an extracurricular activity anymore, it's a survival tactic. In India's 2025 Youth Civic Index report, *68% of 18 - 26 year olds* said they had participated in some kind of civic or social activity in the past year. From voter registration drives to campus demonstrations, content creation to community service volunteer programs, young people are changing what activism is and what participation means in the digital age.

Young people's involvement is neither linear nor innocent; it is often messy, affective, and relational. *The potential of peer networks and family connections* as bridges also become sources of peer pressure, judgments and exclusion if the balance is compromised.

The second approach is to construct *safe, inclusive and flexible ecosystems* where young people can feel heard, seen, and understood by peer and family members. Promoting critical thinking, rather than conformity; empathy, rather than expectation; and communication, rather than control on a continuous basis can better activate youth and abruption risk can be lessened.

As doubt builds and the necessity of youth voices becomes inevitable, we owe it to ourselves to keep an effort to involve them more - not only to start. 

Q4: How do we create settings that enable young people to flourish and remain interested?

Ms. Sehgal: Young people's participation is not a trend; it is at the heart of contemporary democracies. But with every great example of youth-led transformation, there is upheaval. Upheaval can derail progress but rarely will eradicate it completely.

Of particular importance is the response of families, the social media, and the institutions. Will they invest in this generation or shelf it? Will they sponsor or patronize? Will they let go and allow the youth to take over, or force them to fight for every inch of space?

Since we have more uncertainty ahead of us, it would seem there is an even better case than for resilience for intentional, intentional, and sustainable youth engagement. Because when youth thrive—not in spite of disruptions, but planned to thrive at worthwhile participation—society reaps the benefits in return.

Q5: Is youth participation sustainable in this world of disruptions?

Ms. Sehgal: Positive youth involvement in: political action, community building, education, expression and creativity, community service and community action, web activism. A measure of the overall democratic health of society and in fact a driver of social innovation.

Positive youth involvement can lead to:

Improved leadership abilities

Sense of identity and belonging

Civic responsibility

Educational and career prospects

Negative youth engagement can lead to disengagement or disillusionment (potential abruption) that can cause there to be other social pressures on the go, unmet expectations, or incentives because of mental burnout — typically peer groups and family systems.

By Ananya Awasthi