PAGE Blog Business Weekly Magazine
There is widespread frustration among Pakistani youth primarily due to majority of young people are facing chronic unemployment and underemployment amid lack of basic facilities in school, colleges and universities. According to the data of United Development Program, 32 percent of Pakistani youth is illiterate, about 10 percent unemployed and merely less than 6 percent have acquired technical skills, moreover, 71 percent of youth does not receive career counseling at school, 28 percent finds curriculum not relevant to the job market while 47 percent do not have sports facilities in their localities.
The reports of Planning Commission of Pakistan shows the social and economic costs of youth unemployment are huge and there is an urgent need to invest more on youth to utilize their energies and mettle and spirit to ensure that next generation of Pakistan has better economic and social development prospects. While there is lot of sayings on the need for more education but unfortunately the steps taken for providing education are very much less amount. And as the requirement of the job market is above the educational standards, the frustration among the young is increasing day by day.
The consequence of this frustration inviting crime in the country as during the past several years, the crime rate has been increased in all big cities in Pakistan at a frightening rate. It is rather sad to see the involvement of youth in the unlawful activities, simultaneously increased. In violation of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, children continued to be arrested for petty offences and illegally detained for days and even for months; in the absence of adequate facilities, their exposure to hardened criminals makes them more likely to embrace crime after they are released than before they were imprisoned. Pakistan has unprecedented young human resource that should be groomed and utilized.
No one can argue that lack of opportunities, such as education, employment and recreation have created a sense of frustration among the young people and they have become more vulnerable to violence and criminal activities. Our present day youth is confronted with poverty, huger, disease, law and order problem, higher food inflation, acute power shortages, global slowdown, contraction in large-scale manufacturing and a slowdown in the services sector.
Continuous economic crisis, the lack of basic infrastructure, and Pakistan involvement in the US occupation of Afghanistan, make it difficult and doubtful for the Pakistani youth to have jobs according to their choice.
Our education to youth is expensive despite there are number of schools providing free education many youth still require financial support from their parents and from the authorities for buying just text books and uniforms, whereas getting the quality education for students of all walks of life is a million dollar question to be solved. The youth frequently complained about the corruption, malpractices and favoritism throughout the education system as there are number of MA or MBA students not getting suitable job.
Many young complains about the employment situation prevailing in the country. Very few jobs in name are available and that day by day the youth prospects are getting worse to worst. If one get job it is only through back door and recommendation from higher authorities concerned. Corruption and favoritism are rampant in the job market. Jobs are given on quota basis and not on overall merit basis. They are increasingly frustration, discontented with the political leadership, be it in the current government or whoever has been ruling them in the past.
David Bloom of Harvard University adds, “It’s no good turning out educated people if they can’t find work. Nothing is more likely to breed unrest than armies of under-employed young people.”
Social crimes are rising day by day because of unemployment in Pakistan especially in the context when youth after obtaining a master degree fails to obtain a reasonable and respectable job. The youth in Pakistan don’t have healthy entertainment, health resources and awareness. The disenchantment as a result of multitude of problems is also increasing.
It is unfortunate that some of the youth, despite their contributions to national developments find themselves involved in a culture determined by guns, violence and drugs. All this has resulted in a gloomy economy as absence of confidence of foreign investors due to lawlessness in the country is all together depriving the youth of Pakistan getting job and work under suitable environment.
Today the middle class youth of Pakistan looks for a respectable status in society, and in this fight for a job they are losing their peace of mind. If such a tendency prevails there is likelihood that they may take resort to depression and even invite suicides, which are already taking place.
Television and the cinema are the other major factors inducing frustration among our youth as the enchantment seen on these screens makes them feel that this is real life. This again is bound to bring disheartenment to his/her mind of the expectations from life.
Youths of Pakistan are talented, energetic and enthusiastic. They have an inherent fire of action burning within them. If intrinsic fire for activity is not activated in them in the proper direction, then more frustrations and letdowns will arise. The youth of Pakistan, despite multifarious problems like unemployment, poverty, drugs, guns and politics, have always been in the vanguard of movements and political changes. The youth have never let the nation down at any point of time as they have not taken part in anti state activities to harm the interest and integrity of our country.
A qualified psychologist was of the opinion that unemployment, poverty, lack of education and lack of recreational activities are the major reasons of youth involvement in violence. He added that availability of drugs and weapons coupled with the dominance of organized gangs in a certain locality may also influence the youth to involve in criminal activities. Moeed Yusuf, South Asian advisor at the United States Institute of Peace and one of the rising stars among South Asia policy works in the country, which has done substantial field research on the youth of Pakistan, has said that youth are virulently anti-extremist.
Pakistan should drastically increase all sorts of basic facilities in education and create millions of new jobs for its young people. In order to prevent massive unemployment in the near future, Pakistan must create millions of jobs over the next decade. Parents should support their children in good and as well as in bad times. In this way frustration can be eradicated to the maximum extent. It is necessary that parents should devote more time with their children to get better results for their careers.
Pakistan is lucky to have a large bulk of young population. The youth in Pakistan are a real gift of Allah Almighty. It is an upright opportunity to turn our very large and very young people into a fertile asset. They could contribute a large to the economic growth and poverty alleviation. The government and private sector must join hands for the country-building task and focus on protecting national and physical health of the youth. The government should also encourage self-confidence among the youth for the better future both for them and the country.
This is the right time to look into the problems of youth seriously and provide them concrete solutions otherwise it will be too late. We need proper education counseling system in the country if we require a maximum productivity from our youth.
The desires and dream are always the style mark of the young youth, which invariably existed and yet exist among the young. The youth have not seen the real and practical world and have their imaginations about the materialistic world and life in it. They need training in their childhood days to get rid of unhappiness and frustrations. If the young are brought up with a right view of life, they will know how to face discontentedness without committing suicide or taking to drugs and avoid them linking to other bad means.
Government of Pakistan should create favorable situations whereby youth are educated, employed and free from drug abuse, frustration, parochialism, sectarianism and other innumerable evils. It is pertinent to mention that the government of Punjab had taken initiatives to socially and economically empower the youths. However, in other provinces not many efforts were witnessed.
Pakistani youth have great potential to do miracles in every walk of life. This young population has tremendous energy and talent; however, we have to provide them proper avenues to positively utilize their energy and talent. It is now the prime responsibility of elected federal and provincial governments to create opportunities for young people and should initiate programs to enhance their interests, skills, and abilities accordingly.