Daily Times

According to the National Human Development report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Pakistan currently has the largest percentage of young people ever recorded in history. 64 per cent of the total population of Pakistan is below the age of 30 while 29 per cent is between the ages of 15 and 29 years. According to the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Global Youth Development Index report, Germany has been named the world’s best place to be a young person. Germany leads the way in youth development by ensuring its youth’s political participation, education, health, civic participation, and employment opportunities. To what extent is the youth bulge of Pakistan a demographic dividend or a ticking time bomb? What are the factors behind the failure of the state to harness the youth’s potential?

To start with, one of the major obstacles for Pakistani youth is the absence of employment opportunities. Pakistan has the 9th largest labour force in the world, which is increasing every year. According to the Labour Force Survey 2017-18, the unemployment rate for the year 2020-21 has been estimated at 9.56 per cent. The saddest part is that the unemployment rate among degree holders is three times higher than the overall unemployed people. Moreover, there is a lack of aptitude assessment and career counselling prospects in Pakistan, even at the university level. Another challenge to youth detachment is the incapability of Pakistan to formulate a strategy that systematically engages youth in civic and political activities at the grass root level. Political parties are unable to engage around 25 million young voters in mainstream politics. Despite making tall claims, no prominent opportunities have been created for youth inclusion within the political structure, which leads to civic apathy and political detachment on the part of the youth. Even though the prime minister’s youth programme was launched in 2013 for the development of youth that focused on granting loans, socio-economic development, and engaging youth in public policy making, this programme failed to achieve its goals.

The present education system also fails to include civic education to equip the young generation for an active and leading role in the current democratic setup.

Moreover, the present education system also fails to include civic education to equip the young generation for an active and leading role in the current democratic setup. Also, qualitative analysis of interviews in a survey shows that many recruiters and employers complain that the local education system is not producing quality, skilled human resources to meet the challenges of the competitive job market. An article in a foreign magazine also pointed out the fact that the education system of Pakistan does not focus on learning outcomes and largely resorts to traditional means of employing education that focuses on cramming knowledge. Therefore, the youth of Pakistan are incompatible with today’s market requirements. Soliciting views of professionals in a discourse revealed that Pakistan youth, especially in urban areas, is under more stress than their rural counterparts probably due to cut-throat competition and limited opportunities. Furthermore, traditional mindset and social pressures related to the selection of subjects, career, marriage, and other life choices have made their issue grimmer. This dilemma has been further aggravated because of the unjust distribution of resources which has distinctly fragmented the Pakistani society into have and have-nots. The dichotomy between the two such as ostentatious flouting of wealth and power versus the laborious struggle to survive- creates fragmentation and frustration in the young lot of society.

How can Pakistan tap the potential of its youth bulge and convert it into an asset? Firstly, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan, in its vision 2025, has begun emphasizing academia-industry linkages, encouraging projects revolving around real-life issues, field exposure and internships for the faculty and people alike. Following the co-op model of experiential learning, local university students are encouraged to initiate their start-up projects. Several leading national universities such as IBA, LUMS, and GIK Institute of Science and Technology have already introduced the model. HEC is also looking forward to German-style two-track education which identifies students’ abilities and aptitude after high school to counsel and encourage them to opt either for a university degree or vocational training considering their capacities and the job market. This vision should be implemented on a priority basis.

Secondly, it is already included in the plan of HEC, but HEC should implement the development of technology parks diligently as soon as possible. Technology parks will create an enabling environment for young entrepreneurs to start their tech-based ventures and attract inter-business outlets for collaboration and funding. One such project at NUST has already been approved in consultation with the Malaysian government, while HEC plans to build seven parks across the country to provide better employment alternatives for the youth of Pakistan.

Thirdly, the majority of experts argue that the future of Pakistani youth lies in promoting entrepreneurship and tech-based education that enables them to create self-employment. However, everyone cannot be an entrepreneur, therefore, Pakistan needs to inspire and promote youth to learn vocational skills and take up low-profile jobs such as running machines, plumbing, electrical jobs, nursing etc. This can be achieved by implementing labour laws to ensure wages and respect for skilled workers in society, whereas, students who aspire to become entrepreneurs should be given loans for start-ups after assessing students’ aptitude and capabilities.

Fourthly, the state and government should play a comprehensive role by bringing out-of-school children (OOSC) to school. Currently, 25 million students in Pakistan are out of school. For this, the government needs to increase the allocation of the budget to the education department instead of decreasing it which it recently did in a pathetic decision. Pakistan spends around 1.4 per cent of its GDP on education which should be four per cent according to international standards. In this regard, Pakistan can follow the model of India’s education policy 2020. In this policy, the main aim of India is to allocate six per cent of its GDP to education to make it cheaper and accessible for all strata of society. “Pakistan is proud of its youth, particularly the students, who are nation builders of tomorrow. They must fully equip themselves by discipline, education and training for the arduous task lying ahead of them.”

The writer is a staff member of Daily Times and can be reached at raesaf21@gmail.com