THE term “youth bulge” refers to a demographic situation where a large part of the population consists of young people. Pakistan is currently the sixth most populous country globally, with two-thirds of the population below the age of 30, making it among the world’s youngest nations. This ‘youth bulge’ can be the driving force behind Pakistan’s future development.
As per the UNDP report, 64 percent of the nation is younger than 30, and 29 percent of Pakistanis are between 15 and 29 (an age group defined as the youth). Pakistan now has more young people than ever, and this is forecasted to continue to increase until at least 2050. Currently, a large part of this youth is unemployed.
If the youth is properly trained and put into suitable employment, inside the country and abroad, it can transform Pakistan’s economy by increasing productivity as well as contribute to resolving Pakistan’s current financial crisis by making a substantial addition to its current flow of foreign remittances. On the other hand, if the required measures to train the youth and create employment opportunities for them are not taken, the idle/unemployed youth will remain a burden on the economy.
Hence, to properly utilize Pakistan’s youth and its socio-economic development and stability, it is time that Pakistan’s government starts allocating a large amount of resources for focused training of the youth by expanding the technical and vocational training programmes, setting up IT institutes in various areas and supporting the youth both financially in the form of subsidized credit and project design and implementation. The scale of these initiatives must be large enough to attract diverse male and female talent.
Also, taking a cue from Malaysia’s youth development programme chalked out/implemented under the leadership of its former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohammad and the Study/Brief on “Next Generation Pakistan” conducted by the British Council, published in February 2023, the following suggestions are offered for the professional development of Pakistani youth.
The focus of youth development should be to train them in necessary skills to enable them to increase their participation and contribution to nation-building and also to impart leadership training to them to develop their managerial skills and inculcate positive values in them. The aim should be to develop a breed of youth who are not only educated, skilled, disciplined and imbued with managerial skills but also possess high moral values.
Youth participation in sports and culture should also be enhanced to create a spirit of solidarity, comradeship and esprit de corps among various ethnic groups, to enhance interprovincial harmony and to promote the country’s image through participation in youth activities at the international level.
A priority should be given to the training of the youth to upgrade their skills in various job categories and entrepreneurship. Allying with public and private institutions will also help budding entrepreneurs tremendously. Increasing learning facilities and teaching methods is important, especially in new industries and online freelancing. Curriculum upgradation is also important. Career counselling facilities should be created as well to advise young students.
To provide equal opportunities to the youth of all areas, the training facilities for skill development, including computer training skills, should be organized/expanded to all districts and tehsils levels through public/private partnerships based on the skills required in the domestic industry/services and also keeping in view foreign countries’ demand for skilled labour.
As the internet is important as an educational aid and to search for employment, to provide equal opportunities, there is a need to expand this facility to provide internet facilities to all youths, even to those who belong to less developed areas of the country, as presently proper internet facilities are only available in major cities.
There is also a need to provide health/well-being and sports facilities in the maximum possible areas to promote good health and sports opportunities to the youth to ensure a healthy/mentally sound and better productive youth/manpower availability to own industry/services and also for sending them abroad to the foreign countries to earn their livelihood and to project a better and positive image of Pakistan abroad through their interaction with the other countries’ citizens.
An enabling environment may also be created for young/middle-class women to work in all public/private departments/institutions and industries/services without any gender discrimination so that educated/skilled females can also contribute towards their families’ well-being and the country’s socio-economic development.
To develop leadership qualities among the youth the Pakistani government should organize this training for the youth, where leadership training should be imparted to the youth by the government departments at the national, provincial, and district levels. This training should include courses in organizational, management, and communication techniques, negotiation skills, social interaction skills, and other aspects of leadership.
Given the above discussion, for better higher/graduate/lower level education, physical fitness, skills training and leadership training of the Pakistani youth to enable them to work for the country’s socio-economic development and to produce good future leaders, the successive governments in Pakistan must focus on evolving/implementing a comprehensive training/development programme for the Pakistani youth, which is vital for ensuring Pakistan’s economic self-sufficiency/prosperity and making it a powerful sovereign state and a competing regional power.
—The writer is also a former Research Fellow of IPRI and Senior Research Fellow of SVI, Islamabad
Email: hanifsardar@hotmail.com
views expressed are writer’s own.
