If menace of unemployment is not contained, it will trigger serious issues, like street crimes, suicides, terrorism.
ISLAMABAD: It is a well-recognised fact that unemployment, the mother of all social evils, is increasing. It has now become a Herculean task for the state to develop in any respect if unemployment persists in this manner. Though currently the entire world is going through an employment crisis, including Arab countries, they have been trying their level best to overcome it. On the other hand, it is very depressing to see that Pakistan’s job market sector is showing a sorry status and seemingly even meagre efforts are not being made to contain unemployment.
If the menace of unemployment is not contained, it will trigger more serious issues, like street crimes, suicides, terrorism and other nefarious activities. Our leadership must remember that the unemployment rate is directly proportional to the crime rate.
Moreover, it has been reported that a number of students each year complete their master’s, but unfortunately, a large chunk of this ‘graduate pie’ remains unemployed for many years, which does not bode well for Pakistan’s economic future.
It is worth mentioning that one of the reasons of increasing unemployment is the poor standard of education that produces lazy minds, rather than imparting students with skills that enable them to think and analyse different phenomena in an intelligent and critical manner. Despite having master’s degrees under their belt, graduates demonstrate little critical thinking skills, writing skills or interpersonal skills. Their command over language is also often poor, even in the case of supposedly highly-qualified individuals.
Jobs are indeed limited but even when they are available in certain areas, such individuals fail to make their mark. The government needs to develop institutions through which all students, upon graduating, get jobs. No one should require ‘good words’ or political recommendations for a stable future. Unemployment can only be checked in the true sense if the workforce is allocated in the economy efficiently — which means that people must always be hired strictly on merit. If the rights of every individual are respected and ensured, unemployment will cease to be a problem.
Gulsher Daad
Published in The Express Tribune, March 18th, 2014.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
