YOUTH Parliament Pakistan (YPP), a project of Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat), was established in 2007 to give Pakistani youth knowledge about the political and democratic system of the country through healthy debates, productive discussions and constructive arguments.

The project aims at selecting 240 members each year to be trained about the legislative and democratic affairs of Pakistan. However, the selection process is at best vague and riddled with deep flaws.

An aspirant’s interest in and knowledge about democracy — the criteria for selecting the candidates — are judged by one essay of 250 words to be written in the comfort of one’s own home without any supervision whatsoever. How will the youth parliament’s selection committee ensure that there is no plagiarism?

The selection process of YPP is severely impaired by serious problems. Defective selection process inevitably does injustice to many deserving candidates. Unless the YPP reforms its selection process by making it more transparent and foolproof, its reputation will start sinking.

Saad Khosa

Quetta

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play