Daily Times

Youth is the most powerful agent of a cohesive society and holds the ability to bring pragmatic changes to the country. It has the potential to bring innovation and creativity to society. The term “youth bulge” refers to a demographic situation where a large part of the population consists of young people, typically between the ages ranging from 15 to 29 years. According to the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) National Human Development Survey, Pakistan currently holds the highest proportion of young people, as 64 percent of the total population of Pakistan is below the age of 30 while 29 percent is between the ages of 15 and 29 years.

Youth bulge can be both; an asset and a ticking bomb. To make them an asset, it is imperative to provide them with education and skills so that they can contribute to the socio-economic development of the country. To ensure that youth serves as an asset, several initiatives were taken in the recent past to make them productive members of society. The Government of Pakistan (GoP) is committed to expanding educational opportunities for the youth. It is being done by establishing university campuses in remote areas that aim to provide quality education to the underprivileged. The government has also introduced scholarships for students from Balochistan and newly merged tribal districts (NMDs) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), ensuring greater access to higher education and various high-tech vocational skills.

Pakistan possesses a very fragile economy that is not capable of accommodating such a huge youth bulge.

In 2019, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) started various scholarship programmes for undergraduates under the ‘Ehsaas’ Program. For PhD, the government is offering scholarships both domestically and abroad, supporting talented students in advanced research. Furthermore, the government has started Pakistan’s largest internship program, “Ba-IkhtiyarNaujawan” in March 2023, offering 60,000 paid internships to the graduates. This initiative not only provides work experience but also seeks to boost employable skills, preparing youth for the job market.

In recent years, the GoP initiated the Prime Minister’s Youth Laptop Program, which aims to bridge the technology gap by distributing laptops to deserving students, enabling access to online education resources and freelance opportunities. In 2022, HEC continued its commitment to empower Pakistani youth for future job opportunities by launching third phase of the Digital Learning and Skills Enrichment Initiative (DLSEI) in partnership with ‘Coursera’, following the previous two phases initiated in 2018, which collectively facilitated 0.25 million hours of online training for 12,000 learners, with popular courses in project management, data analytics, programming, social media marketing, as well as soft skills such as negotiation, communication, public speaking, and presentation.

Moreover, the GoP has established vocational and technical skills institutions such as National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) and Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA), which have contributed a lot in upskilling the youth and providing them with employment opportunities. More than 1 million youth got training in 930 Institutes in Pakistan as a result of NAVTTC initiatives during 2022-23. Additionally, in March 2023, the Government announced a talent hunt youth sports program and plans to construct 250 mini-sports complexes nationwide. This will encourage youth to engage in sports and recreational activities, nurturing their athletic talents. Despite these initiatives designed for the youth, the limited capacity of the above-mentioned programmes hinders the achievement of the desired impact on Pakistan’s overall youth population.

Presently, there exist a few challenges, which require holistic policy and practice intervention at the State level. Firstly, Pakistan possesses a very fragile economy that is particularly not capable of accommodating such a huge youth bulge. Secondly, all the initiatives exclusively target youth already enrolled in tertiary education out of which 0.43 million are enrolled in technical and vocational institutes and 1.95 million in universities; thus, overlooking those not currently enrolled in any educational institution. Another underlying challenge is that many young people in Pakistan experience unemployment due to limited access, awareness, and lack of interest in vocational fields such as fashion, arts, electronics, cooking, culinary arts, professional chef courses, etc. To further exacerbate the situation, the lack of policy implementation measures to expedite the implementation of technical and vocational education modules in the curriculum of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) levels, has also been a major impediment.

Another challenge faced by young people in Pakistan is the absence of effective policies concerning extra-curricular activities. Despite ongoing initiatives, the realm of sports remains particularly neglected. Consequently, the lack of platforms and opportunities remains a significant obstacle for those aspiring to build careers in sports.

Finally, the Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2020-21 indicates that Pakistan has the world’s ninth-largest labour force, which is growing every year. The statistic shows that the country’s youth unemployment rate for 2022 was 11.31 percent, a 0.28 percent increase from 2021. These figures indicate that despite producing numerous graduates annually, the students face difficulty in finding jobs compatible with the job market due to a lack of requisite skills.

To address the above challenges HEC is looking forward to the German-style two-track education, which evaluates students’ aptitude and talents after high school to counsel and encourage them to choose either a university degree or vocational training based on their abilities and the labour market. For the implementation of this initiative, the government should facilitate HEC and ensure that this concept is executed at the SSC and HSSC levels as well.

Pakistan can implement various effective strategies like Australia, the US, and the UK, by focusing on community sports programs, fostering a vibrant sports culture, providing diverse avenues for youth participation, through sports scholarships and partnerships between educational institutions and sports organizations, creating a conducive environment for the development of young athletes and integrating sports education into school curricula respectively.

It is essential to utilize various platforms such as social media, the entertainment industry, and educational institutions to change societal attitudes towards domestic and vocational skills. These efforts can be bolstered through the implementation of policies that provide diverse training opportunities, ranging from culinary, food, gardening, and leather crafting to advanced technological skills like telecommunication, engineering and data sciences. The provision of such opportunities will also provide our youth with avenues to be a potential skill-based or qualified workforce ready to be exported from Pakistan.

Hence, Pakistan has abundant young talent and innovative potential. With the right guidance and opportunities, this potential can be transformed into an asset that contributes significantly to Pakistan’s growth and stability.

The writer can be reached at maryamnoor2358@gmail.com