Daily Times

Pakistan has been facing population-related issues for a long time but in the 21st century, this extraordinarily burgeoning population is giving birth to street crimes burgeoning with an equal and alarming situation. It is further aggravated because of an equal number of increases in the number of beggars on the streets who are mostly suspected of being involved in multiple crimes.

This is tarnishing the face of Pakistan by branding it as a nation suffering from violence and cheating in the streets and is also developing into a crisis of unresolvable nature. Everyone at almost every tier of Pakistani society is aware of the issue and is worried about the brims but no one is willing to find a cure for the existing and expanding menace of the future.

This, however, should not lead us to think that we are doomed to self-annihilation because there are countries with huge populations that have shown remarkable progress by employing the same bulge of population for economic and material progress. The glaring examples are that of China and India. China has a become model for all the nations under the pressure of overpopulation.

The same with a little decrease in barometer has been and is being done by India. Though a huge population is responsible for multiple dangerous issues for the whole country and the world at large overpopulation is not that responsible rather with an effective and careful plan, the same population can be converted into a tool for the progress of the country.

China has a become model for all the nations under the pressure of overpopulation.

Pakistan is an overpopulated country, but the good thing is that it is a country with the greatest ratio of young people inhabiting this country. But the youth here are not put to proper use to let them play a positive and vigorous role in the economy of the country. The foremost and most significant factor is the lack of proper education and training for our country’s youth.

Our educational institutions mostly train our students for a white-collar job, which is not at all the right path. It is not bad if a few individuals are trained for this type of job, the larger portion needs to work for a living and so needs skill-based education. Skill-based education enables the young man very quickly to start a job or his own business as per his acquired skill and become a useful member of society.

It does not mean that he may not acquire further education. The need is only to enable him to earn his living and with that, he may continue his improvement of the education level if he or she desires so. Pakistan is in dire need of such planning and its implementation.

Like China, this small skill-based training can help revive our traditional home industries in which many of the women who are unable to come out of their homes, can start their earning by using the skills acquired in the education and training institutes. The only care needed is that we may provide the skills which are most prevalent and are market-driven and oriented. This will serve Pakistan not only to grow at the individual level but also at the national level. Today, Pakistan is suffering from multiple financial issues.

The revival of small industries can play a vital role in enhancing the exports of the country and making financial rescue feasible.

Among its multiple advantages, one is financial as well as social. An employed youth has a positive and healthy influence on society and similarly, an unemployed youth is dangerously prone to subversive activities because of the frustration of being unemployed and hence in an uncertain future. This is what Pakistanis suffering from these days and each passing hour gives an increased number of street crimes in almost every part of the country.

If the existing youth is engaged by society in healthy ways of earning their bread, they can be converted into a major tool of progress which is right an increasing burden because we have not planned and developed according to the increasing number of young people. Almost everyone is thinking of leaving the country because of the rampant crime and lack of opportunities for the common young man. Going abroad may provide relief but is not a permanent solution for Pakistani youth and its issues.

Most of the Pakistani youth going abroad are unskilled and so must do menial jobs overseas. Foreign economies of the 21st century are highly demanding of skills that a young man must possess to work. This calls for skill-based education and training both at national and international levels.

The governments must realize the gravity of the situation and instead of keeping the youth in illusions, one must come forward by drastically overhauling the educational institutions to be more market-oriented and the modern 21st-century skills. This would surely create a positively healthy environment in society to make it stand shoulder to shoulder with the well-developed nations of the world.

The writer is a professor of English at Government Emerson University, Multan. He can be reached at zeadogar@hotmail.com and Tweets at @Profzee