Photo by Basil Andrews
What are the regional/provincial peculiarities when it comes to skill-set (under)development? How does an average Punjabi youngster differ from, say, a Pakhtun or Baloch one?
The regional differences and disparities is a huge issue in a federal structure. Sometime ago I wrote an article, for Dawn I think, about how educational opportunities vary drastically for a girl child in rural Balochistan and a boy living in Lahore or Karachi. They live in two completely different worlds. The federation was supposed to provide equal opportunities to all children and all citizens but we have failed miserably in this. The distinctions are along many lines: geography (provincial), rural-urban, gender, income/wealth status, caste and class. We, as a nation, have not been able to do much on issues of social justice in provision of opportunities.
Is it appropriate to argue that the Pakistani youth is largely unable to integrate with the international neoliberal framework because it does not have the necessary skills to do so?
The Pakistani education market is very divided. On the high fee/elite end, for three to four percent of enrolled children, we have institutions that give good quality education/skills to students. These students can easily go abroad and study further or work there and integrate in global markets. But, for the 95 percent-odd of children who go to government schools, or low-to-middle fee private schools, the quality of education is poor and so going abroad is not easy and integration is problematic as well.
With more young people now returning from foreign shores to take up jobs in Pakistan, there is a greater scramble for the same high-paying jobs that exist in the market. Have more jobs been created to productively accommodate the educated middle class?
There are high returns to quality education and training. These people can still find jobs even though job creation has been slow in Pakistan as GDP growth has also been sluggish in the country. So, if you are returning to the country with good quality training and education and have the right class connections, your job search will be easy. If you are not the right class, do not have the right accent, do not have quality education and/or training, you will have problems.
The issue is complicated because the initial distribution of opportunities, for getting good quality education/training, are not distributed equitably. So, the end differences are not merit-based only; initial differences play a huge role and where you end up is very dependent on where you started from.
The writer is a member of staff. He tweets @ASYusuf
Published in Dawn, EOS, June 25th, 2017