Najam Writes OpEd on Pakistan’s Youth Moment
Adil Najam, inaugural dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University believes that a “generational change is not on its way [in Pakistan]. It’s here. It’s set. And, more importantly, it’s here to stay – at least for more than the next two decades.” He writes this is an op-ed published in The News on May 23, 2018, to coincide with the launch of the Pakistan National Human Development Report on Youth, published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), for which Najam was a lead author.
In describing some of the key findings of the report, Najam wrote:
What we found has been at once heartening and concerning: a young population that is not just the centre of, but is also the bulk of Pakistan today – 64 percent of Pakistanis are under the age of 30 and 29 percent are between the ages of 15 and 29. The demographic momentum embedded in this one statistic implies that Pakistan is not just a young country; it is going to remain young into the 2040s. More importantly, the youth of Pakistan know this and they expect being given the attention and respect this demographic reality demands.
Let me share a snapshot of what we found. If you were to computationally condense the just under 60 million young Pakistanis between the ages of 15 and 29 into a statistically representative 100 young people, you would find that only 30 of them consider themselves to be functionally literate; 29 would never have gone to school (despite all being 15 or above); only six would have 12 or more years of education; and just 39 would be employed.
More telling, however, would be the structural deprivations. Of the 100, only six would have access to a library; only seven to a sports facility; and just 21 to a park. Only three would have been to a cinema and only three to a live music performance. Around 59 young people would say that they either don’t play sports or do so only infrequently. One in the 100 would own a car; 12 a motorcycle; 10 a bicycle; and 77 would have no personal means of mobility.
Full text of the op-ed can be read here. (Two other related op-eds on related subjects by Adil Najam can be read here and here).
The research on which this op-ed was based, led by Dean Najam, has been widely reported in the Pakistan media, including most major TV news channels and major newspapers which have written editorials and op-eds based on it. Some examples here, here, here, here, here and here.
Adil Najam is the inaugural dean of the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and former Vice Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). He has studied and been involved with the UN Human Development Reports since their initiation in the early 1990s. Read more about him here.