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EUROPEAN INSTITUTE FOR ASIAN STUDIES

Report EIAS Briefing Seminar Youth and Education in Pakistan, is the EU doing enough for the next Generation?

Organised with the support of the British Council At EIAS Brussels 25 January 2012

Pakistan's political future is at a crossroads. Young people are in need of greater encouragement to continue believing in democracy, while setting out their path for development and the future of their country. The European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS), with the support of the British Council, organised a Briefing Seminar on January 25, 2012, on the topic of Youth in Pakistan, Is the EU doing enough for the next Generation? The seminar had the objective of examining cultural and educational developments in Pakistan and the contribution of the EU towards this.

For this Briefing Seminar, EIAS was honoured to welcome the following speakers: Mr. Moazzam Shah, Political Counsellor of the Embassy of Pakistan to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg, Mr. Sajjad Karim, Member of the European Parliament and President of the European Parliament Pakistan Friendship Group, Mr. David Martin, Director of the British Council Pakistan, and Mr. Markus Handke, Desk Officer for Pakistan, European Commission DG Development and Cooperation EuropeAid. Mr. Dick Gupwell, Vice-Chairman of EIAS, chaired the meeting. Mrs. Shazia Khawar, Head of Programmes of the British Council, also took part in the debate.

Youth and Education in Pakistan: a Background

In Article 37 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the Pakistani state calls for the removal of illiteracy and the provision of free and compulsory secondary education. However, at present, youth and education in Pakistan are not prioritised, and their role in Pakistan could be much larger. Half of the countrys population, approximately 187 million inhabitants, is younger than 20 years old, and they hold substantial power to determine Pakistans future.

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To this date, some initiatives have been taken by Pakistan to concentrate on youth and education policies, the most significant of which was the National Youth Policy, created in 2008. This policy was drafted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs, but the process also involved relevant stakeholders, such as the provincial governments, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the Youth Parliament, international donors, universities, and chambers of commerce. The aims of this National Youth Policy are diverse and they include the following: to increase the amount of internships and jobs by collaborating with universities and the private sector, to establish gender equity, to provide incentives to talented youth and to prepare them for the foreign job market, to hold awareness campaigns and to take preventive measures against drug use, diseases, and environmental hazards, to encourage the Pakistani youth to undertake social and economic activities in rural areas and, finally, to rehabilitate troubled youth and help them to reintegrate into society.

An earlier initiative, in 2005, was the National Vocational & Technical Education Commission (NAVTEC), which is a regulatory body for technical and vocational training in Pakistan. It was established by the Government of Pakistan to devise policies, strategies and training programmes to develop skilled and technically educated manpower. In its implementation and management, NAVTEC tries to enhance the role of the private sector.

Challenges Ahead for Youth and Education

Despite the initiatives of the Pakistani government, however, many challenges remain. Poverty is still widely spread, the number of unemployed people is high, and in some areas, radicalisation and extremism are prevalent. Extremism is a simple and straightforward line of reasoning and is appealing to young people who are in the process of shaping their ideas about Pakistan and about the world. There is hope, but also much frustration among the younger generation. Increasingly, the younger generation finds it difficult to identify with a direction to go in, individually as well as collectively. A major question of identity encircles the younger generation of Pakistan. Indeed, there is a large risk of identity crisis at the core of the young population. The idea of Pakistan and what it means to be a Pakistani are questioned. According to a report from the British Council, approximately one third of the interviewees considered liberal democracy as the best system of governance and believed that Pakistan has to

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reinforce democracy through education. Yet another third of the interviewees regarded Sharia law as suitable for the country. Reinstalling a sense of identity with the youth is important, as is tackling extremism.

In addition, a lack of resources and infrastructures remains, as many schools do not have electricity nor water and are poorly accessible. In some provinces, a number of public schools are merely ghost schools, which exist only on paper. Although provinces face shortages of teachers, it is in fact due to a large number of teachers who do not turn up at school. Another challenge is therefore that of teacher recruitment and monitoring.

Although education is classified as a right, the government is, thus, having difficulties fulfilling this right at present. As a main reason behind this lies the fact that budget allocation for youth and education has remained very low, compared to that of the military, for instance. Available resources are inefficiently managed and often pass through somewhat corrupt political processes. Currently, the allocation of GDP towards education and youth is around 2.9%, due to the low tax revenues, creating a tax-to-GDP ratio that is approximately 10 percent. A major challenge for the government will surpass the UNESCO recommendation of 4% and pull the percentage up to 7%.

EU-Pakistan Cooperation in the field of Youth and Education

To solve these challenges, many opportunities lie in the cooperation between EU-Pakistan. Currently, Pakistans cooperation with the EU on youth and education is based on the Pakistan-EU Cooperation Agreement, signed in April 2004. In this Cooperation Agreement, Article 14 and 15 specify that the two countries aim for cooperation in areas of Human Resource Development, and Information, Culture, and Communication. Since the start of its cooperation with Pakistan, the EU has committed more than 500 million to projects and programmes, including an Erasmus Mundus programme for exchange scholars and students. In addition to the Cooperation Agreement, the Council of the European Union has recently adopted the EU-Pakistan 5-year engagement plan, with the aim of building a stronger partnership for peace and development. The plan is an expression of the EUs policy of constructive, visible engagement with Pakistan and of the emphasis on human development and the support of civil society and institutions.

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The cooperation between the EU and Pakistan aims at tackling some of the issues facing the younger generation of Pakistan. Both countries would like to see the current 2.9% allocation of GDP increase to 7% funding. The EU could perhaps provide modest funding to achieve this target. To tackle radicalisation, religious education is brought closer to mainstream education by including more science and mathematics into the curriculum. To fight absences from teachers, teacher training and evaluation training should be increased. Lastly, the EU and Pakistan would like to see their joint effort bring educational opportunities for people living in remote areas of Pakistan, especially in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

On the one hand, the challenges the Pakistani government faces are significant and perhaps beyond what any government can do. On the other hand, however, an assessment of EU-Pakistan relations should also not overlook that the primary accountability to provide for the future of Pakistani youth lies with the Pakistani government. The EU provides moderate funding and supports reforms but it is not able to assume responsibility for the whole amount. This would not be feasible, due to the fact that the EUs efforts are, in general, based on a long-term perspective, yet with the youth and education challenges in Pakistan, time is short.

The Role of Women and NGOs

Women play a crucial role in changing society and more needs to be done to get women involved in decision-making, employment and especially in education. There are reserved quota in parliament and universities but education for women is still limited. The gap in literacy between males and females should be narrowed down. There has been a substantial increase (e.g. in the Sindh province), yet figures show that a large difference remains in national secondary school enrolment ratios for males and females, which are 55% and 36% respectively. During each of the seven stages of the Pakistani education system a large percentage drops out, yet the female proportion is larger. Many of the girls and women drop out early to work at home or to get married.

It was reported that the British Council, working together with the Ministry of Youth Affairs, has made some achievements in this area. For instance, in Baluchistan, women are now participating in social

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action. A computer internet caf was developed for young women and was established by volunteers and generous funds. In addition, there is also a specific stipends programme for girls.

The role of non-governmental organisations was also given more attention. Pakistan has a particularly strong civil society, thus there is an opportunity for civil society groups to raise issues, such as providing children the chance to go to school. However, at present, the EU focuses on the Pakistani government and does not give a large amount of assistance to education-related NGOs. The NGO sector receives assistance from other sources, such as the World Bank. In the field, NGOs face discrepancies between plan and implementation, and during emergencies this is increasingly noticeable, for instance, when the given services cannot be provided immediately.

In conclusion, social services and education need resources and, therefore, solving the tax revenue problem is a precondition for tackling other challenges. The question of what more the EU can contribute towards the educational developments remains. Despite the signing of the Cooperation Agreement and the 5-year engagement plan, the EU could focus even more on capacity-building. Pakistan itself has limited resources available, as billion dollar losses were made due to the war on terror, as well as natural disasters relief, i.e. the 2010 floods. The EU should perhaps also focus more on the aspect of civil society, as civil society in Pakistan is strong and cannot be underestimated.

The next elections, taking place in 2013, might see substantial change, however, only if youth and education become emphasised. The role of young people in the Pakistani society is essential but the challenges they will be facing in the next decades cannot be solved merely by the young generation. Indeed, it is necessary for the Pakistani government and civil society to cooperate and coordinate and the EU should continue to give gradually more support to the educational developments in Pakistan.

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Rue de la Loi 67, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium - Tel +32 2 230 81 22 - Fax +32 2 230 54 02 - eias@eias.org

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