The dire state of education and skill development in Pakistan presents a challenge and a profound opportunity. As we stand at the crossroads of a burgeoning population and an increasingly competitive global marketplace, it is imperative to harness the potential of our youth through focused youth empowerment initiatives.

According to the data obtained during the 2023 census in Pakistan, the problem of young people’s future needs immediate focus. With more than 2.5 million children not attending formal education and the population growth rate, being one of the highest in the world, the issue requires urgent intervention. An analysis of census data shows that there is ability in the young people that can help in the development of every nation.

However, this ability cannot manifest itself if the youth is not educated properly or given relevant skills. For this potential to be fully realised and take the nation towards a direction of economic growth and development, what is needed is the development of skilled manpower.

With more than 2.5 million children not attending formal education and the population growth rate, being one of the highest in the world, the issue requires urgent intervention.

In 2017, the World Economic Forum presented the skills problem in Pakistan and placed the country in the 125th place among 130 countries regarding the skilled workforce. On this account, other South Asian nations such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, and Bangladesh are better placed. This lack of skills is not only a national problem, but it also hinders the travel of youth to avail employment opportunities in other countries.

Currently, people from Pakistan especially the young ones look for jobs overseas, nevertheless, they lack the adequate skills to get better official jobs. This is compounded by the lack of technical education institutions to produce competent technical persons for the country’s human resources.

There are around 3500 technical education institutions in the country which can only produce around half a million qualified manpower. This is sadly lacking, especially in the light of the large population, most of whom are in desperate need of jobs, including careers in the skilled professions.

To deal with such problems, Pakistan needs a revolutionary change in its educational and skills development policies. Specifically, the government should realize that the traditional concentration on passing exams and, consequently, on obtaining a university degree is insufficient. Today’s world economy requires people to obtain vocational education and develop technical skills and competencies. Many of the youth in developed countries are going to vocational schools rather than college education to get saleable skills.

However, there is good news regarding the issuance of policies in this regard is that the Punjab government has initiated to encourage public-private partnership for TEVTA Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority projects. The intended purpose of this regard is to implement contemporary courses relevant to market standards and even foreign languages in TEVTA institutes.

Such collaborations can help in closing the existing gap between education provision and demand in industry as the product; the graduate, will be fitted to meet the demands of the employers. However, it can be said that the suggestion to form the Punjab Overseas Employment Promoting Authority is very sensible. This authority can go a long way in outsourcing international jobs and ensuring that the youth makes himself or herself ready to meet the skills demanded by these countries. In this way, with the help of accurately oriented training programs, which correspond to international standards, the personnel of Pakistan can be improved and get the opportunities to work for an international company.

The Punjab government has initiated to encourage public-private partnerships for TEVTA Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority projects.

The trade secret can also greatly be enhanced through the services of trade officers attached to various countries’ embassies across the globe. They can therefore be useful to technical training institutions as they indicate trades and specific skills, needed in different countries.

These are the facts, which can be employed to develop the training programs for overseas job markets within Pakistan; in this way, the probability of finding the job by the Pakistani youth will be elevated overseas.

Thus, to build the Pakistan of tomorrow, the education, health, and skill development of human capital is unquestionably the most important long-term investment. This calls for a change of education policy, specifically quality compulsory education up to the higher secondary level. On the same note, there should be a plan to expand the vocational training colleges with market orientation to address the demand for skilled human resources.

These institutions must be fashioned to offer training by the modern standards of the industry and new technology. In this way, Pakistan can produce a human resource that they could use at the domestic level to fuel their economy and can compete in the international market.