Report highlighting challenges faced by youth and solutions launched. PHOTO: FILE
In an interactive session held on Monday, participants urged the government to invest resources in the youth and implement policies for their benefit.
At a launch for a pocket-sized report titled, “Adolescents and Education in Pakistan,” highlights emerging challenges faced by adolescents. It presents 26 core recommendations for the government to improve the mechanism to address challenges facing the youth.
The report was published by Dare to Sensitize, Train and Inform Youth and Adolescents Advocacy Network (DOSTI-YAN) formed by Sachet, a non-governmental organisation.
The report suggests the government create a non-discriminatory education system to prevent class divisions. Moreover, federal and provincial development programmes should be initiated for increased community responsiveness on their children’s education on sexual and reproductive health.
National Forum of Women with Disabilities CEO Abiya Akram said that while the number of youngsters with disabilities was increasing with the rise in population. While speaking to The Express Tribune, she said that 10% to 15% of the world’s population consisted of people with disabilities, while in Pakistan, the last census conducted in 1998 revealed that an estimated 2.4% had disabilities.
Dr Irfan Ahmed, adviser at Plan Pakistan, said energy and resources should be invested in the youth. Although paragraphs approved for youth and adolescent development policy framework provide a roadmap, but implementation remains a challenge, he added.
Dr Asghar Abbasi from the Planning Commission said that 65% of youth lives in rural areas of Pakistan. “This is a huge bulge and population dividend that is mostly neglected. The government is working towards innovative and effective policies to reform the structure under the vision 2025 plan, he added.
Sachet Executive Coordinator Amin Muhammad said emerging challenges faced by the misguided youth in today’s Pakistan should be a concern for policymakers.
According to the findings of a research, adolescent population aged between 10 to 19 years was estimated at 39,894,000 in 2011, which is 23% of the country’s population. Net enrollment of boys in primary schools is 81% where as it is 67% for girls, while in the case of secondary schools it is 38% for boys and 29% for girls.
Child marriage by the age of 15 hovers around 7% and by the age of 18 it is 24%. Currently, married female adolescents number around 16%. Unicef statistics reveal birth rate by the age of 18 is 10% whereas the birth rate for adolescents is 16%.
Moreover, there is an estimate that around 3.6 million children under the age of 14 work mostly in exploitative and hazardous occupations.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 4th, 2014.
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