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What
in your opinion is the future of Pakistan's youth, given the
present of Pakistan's economy, education and politics?
Please
send your opinions at
vf@jang.com.pk
Your
Opinion
- I do not know much about
the condition of Pakistan’s youth. From what I have
seen in Pakistani serials and in pictures published in
various newspapers, arms are openly displayed in
Pakistani colleges and hostels. This clearly means arms
are a part of the culture evident amongst Pakistani
youth. In India, such open display is never witnessed and
even covert possession of arms amongst youths i.e. in
educational institutions is extremely rare.
We have eminent educational institutes like IIT's, IIM,
etc. which are the best management colleges in Asia.
These are the breeding grounds for excellent engineers
and managers, who are in demand all over the world.
Replicate such institutions in Pakistan and you would
have a better future for the Pakistani youth.
Kuldip Gupta
India
- Bhatia from Singapore has
advised the people of Pakistan to take modern education,
as Madrassah education cannot help them. Perhaps, he
thinks that there are no schools, colleges and
universities in our country. This is what the Hindus
think. They have not the least idea of the strides that
Pakistan has made in the field of education. They think
that Pakistani children and young men are going to
Madrassahs only. What ignorance!
Colleges and universities in Pakistan have produced top
class business executives, lawyers, scientists, research
scholars, physicians, surgeons, journalists and
educators. It seems many Indians like Mr. Bhatia do not
have the least idea of the talent that Pakistanis have.
Recently, an Indian gentleman was bragging about the
women’s education in India. When he had finished, I
asked him, "Do you have an idea of how many girls
are studying at the University of Karachi?"
‘One or two per cent,' came the reply. When I told
him that for the last 30 years 70 per cent of the
students at the said university have been girls, he
refused to believe this fact.
The conclusion is that most Indians are quite ignorant of
what plus points Pakistan has by way of education –
or perhaps it is just the outcome of inherent hostility
towards Pakistan!
Mukhtar Ali Naqvi
USA
- The future of youth is
directly related to the educational opportunities,
economic conditions and sustainability of the individuals
in our country. Then comes the political stability and
continuity in policies. Good or bad is a different issue.
The much talked about educational policies, past and
present, failed to identify or neglected to recognize the
core problem.
Ours is a bi-system of education by design, which is
planned elsewhere without the knowledge of our leaders.
This system has given birth to a chain of schools like
LGS and Beacon House etc. This system covers a very small
portion of the population who can afford paying
exorbitant fees. Even the standard of such schools is not
capable of imparting purposeful education. These are
basically moneymaking institutions though they claim to
be non-profitable ones. Regardless of what they are, it
is very sad to note that children of these schools have
no respect for their teachers since they know that the
schools runs on their money and no one dares to
discipline them.
Now lets talk about the future of the youth, who comprise
95 per cent of those that do not form part of this
system. Out of this, 01 per cent paves the way through
sheer strength of their outstanding qualities, but the
suffering is so bitter that they serve more or less the
purpose of a sadist. Certainly, they are successful in
making a career, but what they can contribute to the
nation remains a question. With the present rate of
progress, it appears that the youth prefer and will
continue to remain uneducated and adopt the vendors
profession as I call it.
FM Endrabi
Pakistan
- When I saw your topic I
felt a great sorrow in my heart. General Musharraf and
previous Pakistani leaders sent their children to western
countries for education and did not worry about the
Pakistani youth who, I believe, have not been given any
opportunity to prosper in their own country. Only
religious people have guided (say misguided) them. No
science or foreign languages are taught in Madrassahs
while the world is getting smaller and closer.
I believe religion must be but a part of the study and
not the whole curricula. Youth have become subservient to
their teachers without giving them a chance to think
independently.
This has affected democracy and the opportunity for the
people to govern the country. This has created hatred
towards neighbors without understanding their future. The
General has become a great teacher of hatred and wants
Kashmiri people to have their rights where he has denied
even basic rights to his own people. I don't understand
how people can tolerate such behavior. The youth is the
future of any country. Do you think the Pakistani youth
has any future unless there is some revolutionary change
in their lives?
Sawkar
USA
- Mr. N. Nageswaran needs to
see slum Bombay before presenting a rosy picture of the
Indian youth. If we look at the percentage, probably,
Pakistani youth spend more time in healthy activities
than the Indian youth. Millions of children sleeping in
the streets of Bombay are enough to expose the reality of
how the Indian youth is faring.
K. Ashraf
USA
- I disagree with Maleeka
Kazmi’s comments. The Pakistani youth should watch
Indian channels. This may be the only interesting
entertainment available to them after a frustrating day.
What would really help is if Madrassahs start some IT
training also to enhance their knowledge in other areas
as well. This will enable them to look at life beyond
cricket and movies.
Mohammed
USA
- The future of
Pakistan’s youth lies in their own hands and it is
up to them how they want to see the country in the
future. Those who say the future is bleak are very much
wrong. What we have achieved to date is unparalleled in
many other countries.
The developed nations have achieved all because they have
learnt from their mistakes and always kept a positive
approach. Nothing is impossible against the will of a
human being. In my opinion, the new generation is more
energetic and knowledgeable than us and I expect their
performance will be much better than ours.
Asif
USA
- To imagine that the future
of the youth of Pakistan would be better served by
force-feeding them with democracy would be a disaster.
Time and time again we have seen that democracy has never
been in the best interest of the Pakistani youth who
easily get drawn into politics and violence, when they
should actually be studying hard.
Pakistan needs a Military ruler who can rule with an iron
fist, because the social and political structure of
Pakistan is essentially of extremes which gives rise to a
culture of corruption, decadence, poverty and violence.
The poor are terribly poor who can ill afford three
square meals let alone a formal education for their
children, who then are raised in an endless cycle of
illiteracy and frustration as they see no future for
themselves. The rich, of course, are horribly wealthy,
mired in corruption with political clout and affluence,
which denies them nothing and enables them to live lives
comparable to fabulously rich Americans or Europeans.
Their lives revolve around extravagant parties, bridge
games and foreign travel, while their children attend
expensive schools where a month’s tuition is equal
to an entire year’s salary for an average Pakistani,
and their lives are an enactment of a surreal MTV
/Pakistani/Indian/ pop culture.
This decadence, of course, does not come without a price
as these "upper class" Pakistanis soon realize
that their sons and daughters are hooked on sex and drugs
and virginity, which was once a prized crown of family
modesty, is a thing of the past. Invariably, these same
teens take to robbing homes and businesses to fund their
drug addictions, and matters are quickly hushed up and
swept under the rug, when the son of some affluent
character is either caught red handed or killed in
"action".
T. N. Ghaznavi
USA
- The future of the youth of
Pakistan lies in the same place as the future rest of our
Ummah. Wherever we are in the world, in terms of age or
geography, we should refer to Islam for our problems. The
future of the youth of Pakistan lies with living by Islam
and consequently, working for the re-establishment of the
Khilafah, Insha'Allah.
Urslaan Khan
England
- I refer to your page of
viewers' comments on the future of Pakistani youth. Upon
first reading this page, a collection of wants and needs
appeared before my eyes. These, with the exception of one
were without reference to the source of fulfillment of
these desires.
Writers mentioned their expectations from youth, in
material terms: job, house, car allowance, etc. These
products are all realistic achievements for our youth.
Along with these, other achievements are also possible.
For instance, abstinence from alcohol consumption, drug
addiction and fornication. For, material achievement
alone will not guarantee the salvation of our youth from
the evils of this age.
An ideological reference point is required, and this will
be the source of fulfillment, for not only will it shape
the morals of our future generations, but a comprehensive
understanding of and adherence to Islam will produce
world leaders.
Mr. K Ashraf refers to a list of individuals who were
products of the British colonial educational system, as
though they had set standards to aspire to, but these
colonialists had been our greatest enemies who removed
Islam from our minds. Hence we are in turmoil now.
For our future generations, a comprehensive understanding
of Islam is required. This understanding should
practically apply Islam to reality, so the ideology of
Islam can be used to solve the problems people are
facing. Such a comprehensive understanding of Islam
should be administered through establishing the Khilafah,
which is the political system of the ideology of Islam.
This understanding is not necessarily available in
current Madrassahs. Only then can Pakistan produce great
personalities like Muhammed Bin Qasim and Tariq Bin Ziad
to name but to of several.
M.T. Addosi
London
- I do not fully agree with
the comments of Mr. K. Ashraf. No doubt, the education,
politics and economy of Pakistan have come to a point of
no return, but it is time to find out the root cause.
Political leaders and bureaucrats of Pakistan are the
ones who should be held responsible for the dark future
of the Pakistani youth. I am not an admirer of Late
Zia-ul-Haq, but I must clarify that he had been put under
a condition to defend Pakistan from USSR and his untimely
death was a great loss to Pakistan. If anyone studies the
feudal system of Pakistan, it is clear that no one can
stand against them and all feudal lords of Pakistan will
never a progressive future for Pakistan's youth, unless
some revolt by the youth takes place for improvement of
the education system and alleviation of the general
public.
Mohammad Manzar Husain
USA
- The future of our youth has
been spoiled by the present situation of our country and
society as a whole, and high officials, in particular,
are responsible for this sad aspect.
No doubt, our youngsters are full of talent and have the
ability to tackle all kinds of assignments at par with
the other nations. However, due to improper guidance and
support from our elders, the quality and standard of our
youth is decreasing steadily. Infiltration of political
pressures in our educational institutions has contributed
significantly towards demoralizing our students who
should be seeking education in true spirit. If the
government realizes the actual needs and demands of our
young blood, then one can frame a high opinion of the
development of the nation.
An obvious cause of youth deterioration is the stark
difference of quality education in private and government
schools. This difference has developed hatred among the
students, which is an unhealthy sign and must be reduced
to provide equal chances to all classes. Poor families
cannot afford the expenses of private schools and
everyone is aware of the conditions in our government
schools.
I believe the youngsters are a great asset of the country
and we must take care of them.
Shahid Javed Butt
Turkey
- The future of Pakistan's
youth is as bright as they want to make it. "Each
generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its
mission, fulfil it, or betray it," said Frantz Fanon
Some reading your question will be quick to point to the
dark side. But things are not as bad as they have been
propagated by demoralizing forces, namely by
"McWorld" (self-proclaimed enlightened
nations).
Let's take a factual and objective look at where we were
and where we are now in relation to our economy and
education, etc? At independence, Hashim Raza, Deputy
Commissioner of Karachi had to feed, cloth and shelter
more than 500 thousand refugees. The Quid-e-Azam had only
4 thousand Rupees to deal with the crisis. (Ref. Liberty
or Death, Patrick French, p. 354). We did not have any
civil structure. Our security forces were in complete
disarray. Sardar Valabhai Patel (the evil genius who
masterminded the occupation of Kashmir) predicted that
the challenges for this temporary state were too big,
hence was going to collapse under its own weight in no
time.
When an elder from a parent generation says,
"Pakistan had to build everything from
scratch," the youth must understand this fact from
every dimension. In sports, our parent generation
dominated the world map in squash and hockey for decades,
despite the absence of world class facilities. Our parent
generation's education started with Sir Syed Ahmed Khan,
who went door to door begging for alms so as to set-up a
school. Today, we have more scientists than 56 Muslims
countries put together. In politics, the only time the
Muslims from Jakarta to Cairo and from Khartoum to
Islamabad forged unity in the post-colonial era was
because of a Pakistani politician.
The youth have been provided with a solid foundation in
every sphere. Still, a lot more is to be done and there
are problems yet to be solved. But we must treat them as
challenges. The McWorld gurus would tell us that
everything is in chaos. What we need to remember is that
only chaos can produce order. What McWorld is calling
chaos are in fact various literary and political
movements at this particular juncture in our history. All
these challenges and movements would serve as the
life-blood of the renaissance of Pakistanis. Therefore,
the youth must not indulge in self-pity by following
McWorld propaganda. They must set out to rise to the
challenge and to conquer.
"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be
defeated," said Maya Angelou.
Tanveer Ahmed
UK
- This refers to the view of
Mr. N. Nageswaran from Singapore. From your name, I
presume you belong to the South of India. It is the most
hilarious and ridiculous view I have ever come across and
as a fellow Indian it puts me to shame. Who is it you are
trying to fool Mr. Nageswaran? While it can be said that
perhaps the problems plaguing Pakistan today are much
serious than our country, hardly any youth follows the
life pattern you depicted.
S. Siddharth
Seychelles
- In my opinion, the current
situation is not encouraging for the Pakistani youth
because they are not getting what they actually want from
Pakistan. A major problem is unemployment that is
creating frustration and stress among the youth. But the
actual root cause is illiteracy. And, in my opinion, if
we educate one whole generation, the whole scenario of
the country will automatically change in a few years. The
youth will at least be able to make a clear distinction
between good and bad. This is the major problem that
should be solved without wasting much time in order to
compete in the world.
If the government or leaders do not address this problem
seriously then there will be a bleak future for the
present youth, which would continue to remain bleak for
coming generations as well. So, I think, it is the duty
of the government, the private sector and every Pakistani
to contribute individually and collectively towards this
most important sector.
Atiq
UK
- The state of affairs in
Pakistan is bad, not because it does not have the right
resources or the right people, but because there are more
corrupt people at the top level in Pakistan as compared
to India.
Whatever India is today, has nothing to do with Indian
politicians, but one can surely say that whatever bad is,
all credit goes to them. So, if anything good happens in
Pakistan, one should not rely on politicians or military
generals or religious fanatics, but it has to come from
private companies or citizens.
So stop saying the government should do this or that
because they never do, whether in India, Pakistan or any
western country.
Sanjeev
USA
- The pessimistic outlook of
some of your readers notwithstanding and the two Indian
contributors, who like their compatriots, could not waste
an opportunity to show Indians in a superior light, I
think the achievements of the educated Pakistani youth
are very impressive. If you look at USA, the Pakistani IT
industry though in a fledgling stage, produces personnel
who are preferred over their Indian counterparts. The
most successful and most law-abiding community here is
the Pakistani community. Even the CEO of Sun Microsystems
is a young man from Pakistan.
We have great people, young and old, having immense
talent. All we need to do is to utilize our capabilities
and efforts properly.
Nafees A Mahmood
USA
- I feel sorrow when I think
of the state of our youth. While many people find easy
excuses and blame the sorry state our youth on our
socio-economic situation and on western influence, I
believe those blaming others are to be held responsible
themselves.
Wanting to feel free and civilized has led our youth to
follow the West by hook or by crook. They acquire
education but with no practical reward and they end up
having just a 'paper declaration' of being educated and
nothing else. Education that doesn't make you think is
useless. They have nothing to struggle for and as a
result end up accepting the ludicrous, thus forgetting
their role in changing things for the better.
The youth, I believe, have adopted a view, which doesn't
support them. This aspect saddens me the most because
this approach borders ignorance and leads nowhere.
Our youth have been blessed with knowledge and they
should use it to understand Islam and determine what it
really is. Our youth are presently lost, looking for a
sense of direction, which they will only be able to find
amongst the examples set before them.
Shakeel Ahmad Layvanae
USA
- Pakistani youth should work
hard, stop watching Indian channels and do what is best
for themselves and their country. I can understand that
under the present conditions in Pakistan, keeping one's
hopes high is a bit difficult, however we should never
lose hope. The only thing to do is to develop the
willpower, courage and hard work to succeed.
Maleeka Kazmi
USA
- I feel bad for them. I left
Pakistan during in Zia-ul-Haq’s regime. I used to be
a lecturer in Pakistan. I taught Urdu in several colleges
before migrating to the United States. Zia’s
government introduced a new Syllabus for different
courses. The Urdu Syllabi did not include any writer who
belonged to the territory presently called Pakistan. Not
many writers belonged to the 20th century.
Most of the writers lived in the 17th, 18th and 19th
century.
Similarly, Zia government expunged the evolution theory
and those chapters dealing with astronomy from science
subjects. I felt sad for my students because they were
forced to study things mostly irrelevant to their time. I
saw things going down-hill. Viewing the future of
education in Pakistan I preferred to flee the country. I
am very glad I did.
Young people have a lot of energy, high hopes, great
ideals and real potential to achieve almost anything in
life. However, Pakistan's environment is not very
helpful. Lawlessness and irregularities in every sphere
of life are killers of human imagination. When young
people witness these irregularities their faith in the
system shatters. Instead of depending on their natural
abilities they start looking for artificial avenues. This
process creates a vicious cycle, which finally entraps
everyone.
When Pakistan came into existence, most of the educated
people were a product of the British education system.
This system created great personalities like Iqbal,
Quaid-I-Azam, Liaquat Ali Khan, Abdur Rab Nishtar, Sir
Zafarullah Khan, Justice Abdur Rashid, Justice Cornelius,
Justice Kiani, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Dr. Abdus Salam, Dr.
Qadeer Khan, Qudratullah Shahab, Altaf Gohar and many
others. Gradually, we have distorted everything in
Pakistan. We have totally destroyed all our governmental,
social, political, national, educational and religious
institutions.
Military takeovers have given birth to economic, social
and political demons. The corrupt, who are enjoying a
lion's share in the country's resources, have corrupted
the whole society. They took deleterious decisions
single-handedly, which destroyed our social fabric.
The Pakistani youth is very unfortunate. They have no
role models to follow, no opportunity for sound modern
education and no social landscape upon which they can
exploit their natural abilities to the maximum effect.
Our youth's confusion and frustration in life and
shattered confidence in Pakistani society predicts
Pakistan's and its youth's bleak future.
K. Ashraf
USA
- Bleak!
Sarfraz Khan
The Netherlands
- Before talking about what
the future holds for Pakistani youth, let us see what an
Indian youth typically does.
While in college, he concentrates on studies.
Simultaneously, he undergoes short courses like
typewriting, shorthand, etc. He aims at joining a good
college and takes up a course that is in demand. Upon
completion of his studies, he aims at joining a good
organization and gains experience over there. He
automatically comes into demand by firms that also send
him abroad to their branches. As a result, he is
permanently in demand by employers because of his
qualification, experience and capabilities. He gets a
handsome salary, housing accommodation, car and other
allowances. He becomes the most eligible bachelor for
marriage and parents of girls are vying to get him as a
son-in-law. He happily gets married to a decent girl from
a decent family and becomes an integral part of the
society.
If the Pakistani youth follow this pattern, their future
will be quite impressive.
N. Nageswaran
Singapore
- The future of the Pakistani
youth rests entirely upon the people of Pakistan. If they
continue to send their children to Madrassahs that
ignores advances made during the past fourteen centuries
then such graduates that join organizations such as LeT
will continue to be used as cannon-fodder to wage
needless war by mad clerics and politically motivated
opportunists.
Alternately, if people manage to send youth to schools
with a modern curriculum that is designed to produce
world-class knowledge workers with globally marketable
skills, then Pakistan has a potential to reap benefits
associated with meeting worldwide demands for such
workers. Moreover, it will also create potential
opportunities to set up manufacturing businesses in
Pakistan using low cost knowledge workers.
Finally, if the people of Pakistan continue to depend on
politicians and dictators to make arrangements for their
children's education, they will get disappointed.
The future of Pakistan belongs to those who see to it
that their children get proper education that empowers
them with marketable skills in demand all over the world.
The choice is for the people of Pakistan to make.
Kishan Bhatia
USA
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