Youth in the country represent the powerhouse of the global economy but the quality of education continues to remain a matter of "concern", HRD Minister Kapil Sibal has said.

"Western nations and east Asia reaped the benefits of the demographic dividend, now the fruits of this dividend are seeded in India, the Middle East and Africa. The youth here represent the powerhouse of the global economy," a press release quoted him as saying in the recent 36th session of the General Conference of UNESCO at Paris.

He, however, said, "The quality of education continues to remain a matter of concern."

Emphasising on the need to empower youths, Sibal said, "We will fail our future generations if we do not create the necessary environment for their self-realisation...So let us pledge to empower our young. Let us enrich them with the tools needed to protect their future."

He said the Indian government has taken the lead to develop an access device Aakash - which aims to provide a medium for every child to access the digital world and to learn from the vast repositories of knowledge contained therein.

"Aakash presently costs less than USD 50 and our endeavour is to further reduce its cost to less than USD 35.

We are going to provide Aakash to every student in higher education and gradually to every child in secondary education.

We dedicate this device to the children of the world. We will equip our children with the tools to face the challenges of the 21st century," Sibal said.