For any nation to develop and define its own direction, there is need to bring in many things such as culture, approach and attitude towards life and work into everyday discourse. They are considered key ingredients of development such that system gets strong foundations leading to strong buildings of development. Countries never develop if they don’t try to bring it into their day to day life.
While deciding about the directions of development there is need to take into consideration ingredients and for this there is need to focus on soft skills including social structure, economic structure (human capital) and psychological structure (particularly referring to the mental and emotional system).
Let’s put this title for everyman to understand by some of the basic examples in those areas where Pakistan never thought of doing something. Language is considered as identity of the person and helps in day to day communication. It can be termed as one of the important factors of development and base for living in any system.
To understand this system, one of the key areas for any country is to work on education sector and make language part of the curriculum. This approach will not only help in day to day routine activities but also will help in long run by taking into the consideration opportunities to enter into the market.
Benefits of learning a language while living in XYZ country will help significantly in understanding rest of the culture and expressions which may have different meanings in different languages.
Second, when one talks about economic structure particularly taking into the focus human capital, in the developed world focus is on the academic institutions and within institutions balance is always the core strength of development. Human capital will significantly develop if there is change in the approach towards the system and this is the case of developed world.
As is the case of China which though in the upper groups of developing world, has significantly spend on the human capital both in terms of number and job opportunities. Different studies have showed that during 2015 with 2850 universities and colleges with 24 million students, China succeeded in bringing new 7.5 million graduates (number greater in comparison to Finland’s population). For this chunk of graduates’ enterprises were allowed to grow which resulted in taking in of 13 million number which is above the number of graduates.
Psychological problems thus leading into the stressful environment in the surrounding, less efficient labor coming into the market, low productivity, low growth and thus leading to low development. If this cycle is to continue this thus influences the economic system
Similarly, looking at the economic front another factor which plays important role in development after human capital is innovation. Innovation can be both in abstract and physical form. In abstract form it can be in the form of smart thinking, development of new ideas and approach towards thinking, whereas in physical form it can be linked to technological factors i.e. need for transforming economy to perform in more efficient way with use of more technology and more technological transfer for improvement of human capital.
Third, psychological factor plays important role in development of the human being. This psychological factor includes both mental and emotional skills of human being. To build on psychological factors, there is need to bring in balance in between activities of all type. For example, if we compare a young child from Pakistan and China there is significant difference in the approach towards life, education, leisure and work.
A child in Pakistan is suppose to carry heavy bags and go to school with limited time to indulge in the physical activities. With the passage of time this pattern becomes the habit and person enters into the market with more psychological and physical problems. In comparison to this in China, a young child from very beginning is taught to have balance in between academic and non-academic activities. This balance is also supervised at both ends with coaches and mentors working with each and everyone in the group.
Psychological problems thus leading into the stressful environment in the surrounding, less efficient labor coming into the market, low productivity, low growth and thus leading to low development. If this cycle is to continue this thus influences the economic system.
For development, therefore what current government and governments coming need to come up with: first, there is need for preservation of culture prior to introducing it to rest of the world. Pakistan having rich culture and heritage need to start with education focusing on culture (cultural education). Second, for policy makers and implementers need to focus on human capital accumulation and not capital flight. For this purpose, there is need to bring in skills focusing on innovation and technologies lined with the market with smart approach towards work. This need to focus on reduced compliance cost not only in the form of number of documents but also need to simplify the documenting procedure.
Third, for psychological development need for the balance between academic and non-academic activities should be key focus starting from the low academic level to develop base and need is to build on the system. For this purpose, there is need to reduce weight of school bags for children in Pakistan as it won’t help in personal development. Balance it self will bring in habits triggering the human development which itself will help in growth leading to development.
In short ingredients of development for Pakistan are cultural preservation using education as a tool; focus more on capital accumulation through smart approaches including innovation and technology; balance between academic and non-academic activities or professional and personal activities.
The writer is PhD Scholar at Beijing University of Technology, China and Visiting Research Associate Sustainable Development Policy Institute Pakistan