Daily Times

Youth in Pakistan are victim of their own existence due to their huge volume and low economic growth rate. According to UN report, 64% of population below is under 30 and 29% are between 15 and 24. Pakistan has one of the highest youth population on the globe. Perhaps, we could be replacing Yemen very soon. Previously, Yemen has one of the highest youth populations in the world.

We know what is going on in Yemen; where youth is on the street, unemployed, and without education. Interestingly, 75% of the young people live in conflict zones of the world.

They are fighting tribal wars as well war against external aggression. I hate to portray a glooming picture of Pakistan, but we cannot deny the facts and the facts are that Pakistan has the youngest population on the planet. With this youngest population, we have low rate of GDP growth, increasing unemployment, increasing crime rate and multiple vulnerabilities including but not limited to poverty. Up to 5-10% people are seeking employment and they want to have opportunities to get engage in the economic productivity.

Similarly, many youth people are expected to go to school, colleges or universities and the state is responsible to provide education and employment opportunities to them. Pakistan has relatively outdated infrastructure that could cater to the needs of young people.

Gap between school, college and university is very wide if we form a map. This gap widens when it comes to quality of education, skills development and civic engagement.

We know what is going on in Yemen; where youth is on the street, unemployed, and without education. Interestingly, 75% of the young people live in conflict zones of the world

On the other hand, economic growth is lowering every year. In 2018, GDP growth rate was 4-5%, in 2017 it was 5-6% and now we have growth rate of 2-3%. At the same time unemployment is increasing from 6 to 10%. Resultantly, there is a huge gap between the economic growth and youth entry into the job market. On the one hand, our economy is not catering to present needs of the youth, and on the other more youths are adding to ranks of the unemployed.

Those who are lucky enough to have got a job are forced to quit job market because of economic slowdown. When these young guys are put on the road, what will they do? For the time being, their family may be able to provide them food, security, education, health facilities but for how long can they continue?

There is no clue about betterment of economy in the near future. If we keep in mind the pressure of youth, growth rate of the economy is needed to be 10% higher to engage the present youth population. What will be the consequences of those young people who are getting unemployed or who are entering in the market? Initially, the young deviants may be using drug and they could be victim of drug abuse but later they would be joining criminal gangs or would be coming on the roads. They could end up joining criminal activities and later criminal careers. At that time, the society could be in trouble to have a high crime rate. This crime rate could be going up and up if the situation remains the same with low economic growth.

In such situations, chances of increasing level of internal rift, conflicts, and violence are high, but the path seems to be clear for young people. Of course, violent incidents would also result into high crime statistics in the country. More alarmingly, we are on the edge of conflict and violence because we have differences based on ethnic, religious issues or even regional issues.

It is high time that the government must rethink and invest in youths. This investment should be prioritized. Initially, if government invests in technical training for the youths and engage them in employment.

Government should launch extensive internship programs as long as an internee gets a job. These internships should not be time specific. For example, previous government was offering one-year internship and this government is doing the same. Time duration of these internships should be increased until the person gets regular job.

The government does not have enough money to provide internship to each and every young person but it can encourage private sector to open up new opportunities for the youth. At the same time, the government can reduce the employment age and can generate internship and give more opportunities to young people rather than the elder.

Youth should also get engaged in entrepreneurial skills. Those entrepreneurs must be encouraged to establish their own business and get engaged more people into the economic productivity. In this way, the government might have a chance to engage young people but at the same time the government has some opportunities to engage young people in civic activities.

For instance, the government can ask young people to plant tree, engage in solid waste management, recycling business and establishing new avenues of life through local governments. This kind of tasks should be based on voluntarily activities and with the communities as well outside of the communities.

If the young population is not engaged, they will fall in deviancy and criminality. If we want to reduce the deviancy and criminality, we must encourage the young people in economic activities and civic responsibilities.

The writer is Associate Professor of Sociology at Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad