LAHORE:The talented youth have the power to transform a country’s future and they could be the engine of development. Currently, 64 percent of Pakistan’s population is less than 30 years old. The country has more young people than it ever had.
These views were expressed by the speakers and participants at a public seminar on ‘Green Skills for Youth: Towards a Sustainable World’, organised by Women in Struggle for Empowerment (WISE), in connection with International Youth Day 2023 here at a local hotel on Friday.
A large number of young girls and university/college students attended the seminar. Speaking on the occasion, WISE Executive Director Bushra Khaliq said that we cannot empower our youth through distribution of laptops only. Green jobs for women and youth are need of the hour. The unemployment rate among degree holders is three times higher than the overall unemployed people. Though Pakistan can reach its peak through the power of youth, we are not even able to at least educate or employ half of them, she said.
She said over the last decade, young people have increasingly been viewed as a key demographic group within Pakistan. This youth bulge will only grow in the coming years.
Thus, it can be reasonable to state that the social, political, and economic fortunes of Pakistan are closely tied to the development and empowerment of its young people. The smartest investment would be to capitalise on its young generation and provide it with the ability to adapt, learn and innovate solutions to address challenges like poverty, education, health, the economy and the environment, she emphasised. Talking about problems being faced by youth, she said one of the major obstacles for Pakistani youth is the absence of employment opportunities. Pakistan has the ninth largest labour force in the world, which is increasing every year, she added.
Pakistan’s constitution promises free education to all school age children but unfortunately, 25 million children in Pakistan are out of school. For this, the government needs to increase the allocation of the budget to the education department, she added. Others who spoke on the occasion were Punjab University head of Political Science Department Prof Irum Khalid, young writer and student of Punjab University Muqaddas Majeed, clinical psychologist Esha Shahid and Project Manager WISE Amina Afzal.