What a State needs to be progressive, prosperous, and have a higher fly in the comity of the nations? You will be probably thinking about dedicated and visionary leadership, unity in the nation, and more importantly about the natural minerals which boost an economy that creates lucrative business environment and millions of jobs. Yes, it is correct and Pakistan enjoys almost all kind of natural wealth that has been bestowed by the God.
Unfortunately, like other resources, the government of Pakistan has not been able to utilize an important physical human resource effectively and efficiently- youth of the country. The youth shares sixty percent of the total population which is mostly illiterate, un-skilled, and has become a burden on the economy instead of being a powerful dose to it, which is highly demanded by some developing countries such as Australia and Canada.
Instead of exploiting benefits, creativity and true leadership from it, is being used in unskilled professions. The youth which usually holds the flag of a country, and takes it with determination and enthusiasm towards the prosperity and development, is under the debris of unemployment, suffering from poor career counseling, and dithering from the vision. The graduates are revolving around the houses of MPA’s and MNA’s in order to get a job in government sector. Importantly, it is the slaughter of merit and oppression against those who burn midnight oil to make their dreams come true. The period of the life under which the youth fall, is the most productive and energetic. If their energies are not channeled they fail to captivate opportunities that come their way.
Moreover, there has been brain-drain in country due to worse law and order situation. A small part of the youth which is educated and highly skilled always dreams about developed countries. Is not a bad luck for us that a plant which was sowed, grown up in a country, and now the tree is giving fruits to the other nations? I don’t call it a misfortunate. I call it mismanagement and poor governance that has crumbled the dreams of the youth. Thousands of highly qualified doctors and engineers are serving in the western and the middle -eastern countries. Why not to serve in our homeland?
There is need to sort out the reasons for wasting such a valuable resource. The main responsibility lies on the shoulders of the government, which is unable to perform properly. The question rises why the youth especially in the rural areas is uneducated? The options of the answer are: allocation of educational budget less than the requirement (1.5% of GDP), corruption, and fewer opportunities of employment after graduation. Surprisingly, all options are correct to the answer. Therefore, there is serious need to increase the educational budget according to the UNO standard, and corruption, which is a venom in our society and running into our blood streams, needed to be eliminated by paying handsome salaries to the teachers and establishing honest educational accountability teams.
NGOs, undoubtedly, can play a pivotal role in nurturing up youth. There are thousands of non government organizations which are working every nook and corner of the country. It can be done by setting up recreation and youth centers in all districts of the country.
Communities and welfare societies, in this context, should not leg behind, and support the youth to remove its frustration at least by thought-provoking and motivational talks. It should be kept in mind that youth is our asset and this valuable wealth should not let be turned into a liability. Once Franklin Roosevelt right said “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”
The youth itself, in order to be a sturdy pillar of the country, will have to come up. Unfortunately, the spoon feed mindset prevail here especially in rural area. Whatever the facilities are available must be availed, though there are many problems.
Last and very crucial is determination and enthusiasm among the youth to achieve certain goals. Change has to be start from individuals. The youth has to show that they want change-peaceful change. A change which can alter the course of history, and assert the historians not to repeat the mantra of the blunders in their research papers, which we have committed in the past. If we are not changing ourselves, we cannot change the society. Turn up the pages of the history, you will come to know that nations have transformed themselves not others have done it. Daily long claims are made and blustering slogans are chanted, but are hollow and the implementation is not on the roads. Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.
