We remember the time when most of Pakistani parents would aspire to be parents of future doctors, engineers and military personnel. The second choice would be opportunities afforded by CSS. The age of computers came and it added another option but never with the allure of the above. Those originally sought after professions still remain the aspiration for millions and their parents.

Being an engineer, and an only son to two doctors, I am part of a family apparently counted the first two choices as the only reasonable choices. And similarly, I am convinced that while liberal arts, journalism, economics, pure sciences and other professions are more acceptable now than ever before, the core choice of most Pakistani parent has not changed much.

This attitude and the limitations of our educational system has posed a number of dilemmas for individuals and created social problems and challenges for the Pakistani society. I have always tried to convince people who think of working without going through formal higher education to reconsider, but privately I have my doubts about the utility of this advice. And these doubts arise from a major stress factor that threatens our society today, unemployment of the highly educated. Doctors and engineers included.

Being an Engineer I would venture to share my opinion on what ails this professional qualification. Our engineering universities, except for the top few, have turned into mass producers of degree holding individuals who have little chance of securing a decent job at the initial stages. And while lack of jobs can also be attributed to the present economic conditions it’s also a result of not understanding the significance of the numbers that our economy can absorb, even in better days.

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of engineering institutes in the country, Private Sector and Government Sector. The Government Sector includes universities such as the UETs (Lahore, Peshawar, Taxila, Faisalabad, Mehran), Punjab University, NED Karachi, Bahauddin Zakaria University and many more. The Private sector, which has noticeably ballooned in the recent past, includes GIKI, NUST, FAST, LUMS, University of Central Punjab, University of Lahore etc. Four of the biggest engineering institutions of the country, UET Lahore, GIKI, NUST, and NED are the most prestigious. UET produces around 1400 Engineers (BSc) every year. NUST and NED can be estimated to produce a similar number and GIKI churns out about 500.

This takes the outflow of these four institutions to be around 4700. Let’s assume that all of the other institutions produce around 10,000 professionals on top of these and this takes the number to around 15,000, minimum, every year. The next question is what do they do after they have graduated and the problem begins at this very moment. The end of graduation divides these young individuals into two broad spectrums,

1. Those who want to work in the industry

2. Those who want to seek further education

It is important to mention that this division is affected by the economic strata to which these engineers belong to. Those from relatively better economic background choosing to study further. Most of those wanting to serve in the industry immediately after graduating would be those who are in some way economically challenged. And then within these Engineering, Electrical and Mechanical engineers have the best chances of securing a decent first job. And for the other graduates in less desired Engineering fields it’s a real dog fight. This poses the first dilemma.

To further complicate matters or the engineering trades that are called traditional, e.g. Electrical and Mechanical, while there are jobs but the competition is extremely tough. For the nontraditional trades such as Environmental Engineering and Metallurgy, there are not many jobs to begin with. This leads to a very healthy situation. As the top spots fill out engineers begin to settle for lesser and lesser than they aimed until most of them would start off with jobs that are only remotely linked with what they have been trained for. But even after such compromises there would always be a huge number of Engineering graduates left unemployed.

It’s a never ending sad story. The number of engineers our institutions are producing grows each year with fewer jobs to compete for. This situation is likely to continue till the present economic recession remains and the security situation does not improve. Add to all this the cost cutting measures that even industrial giants are taking today and we have a very dire challenge facing us.

So what are we left with?

We are left with thousands of individual graduates, unemployed or barely employed with no silver lining in their dark skies. They have run out of ideas and plans and with an aim of surviving only. One would have thought, or wished, that our government would somehow come up with policies to tackle this challenge. How very naïve of us to think like this !!

Every year, our government grants more and more institutions the right to grant engineering degrees. I cannot claim that these universities are not assessed for infrastructure and other prerequisites, but I have witnessed 5 room “universities” claiming of awarding “Engineering” degrees. The fact that despite the huge increase in the number of engineering institutions today each one of them is full to its brim is a proof that even today most young people automatically choose this profession to study without assessing the future prospects.

Year after year we put on the line the future of some of our brightest minds by not planning properly, as a state our educational policies. These individuals have the potential of making a huge difference if they are guided properly at the beginning of the higher education stage.

Its high time that the government and the political parties focus on correcting our educational policies. In this information age Human Resources are a countries most important asset. We cannot afford, as a state and society, to treat it in such a callous manner.

PT Report Gilgit, January 1: DPO Aman Ullah of the Gilgit – Baltistan Peoples Works Department has died in a road accident near Gich (Punial) . His driver has, reportedly, been injured in the accidet. According to details, Engineer Aman Ullah was driving the official vehicle when this accident took place. Engineer Aman Ullah hailed [...]

Asim Iqbal Gilgit, December 20: The Gilgit-Baltistan government is planning to increase the powers, as well as the number of seats of local body institutions. This was stated by GB local bodies minister, Engineer Ismail, while explaining the importance of “local bodies” to the members of GBLA, at the assembly hall. He said that the [...]

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I had a friend in college who was discovering Islam around the time I was. Though we were both born Muslims, we were now understanding it and practicing of our own accord. We weren‘t converts, but “Reverts“. After college, she went on to study Islam at a madrassa-esque school for women and I went on to law school, but we stayed in touch and shared books and articles we found interesting. My interest in Islam was sparked by the post 9/11 hatred that the media spewed about a religion I had grown up with, but never taken the time to understand. Because I didn’t understand Islam, I didn’t know how to defend it. Being dumbfounded on occasion, I decided I needed to learn what was true and right so as to be able to either defend my religion, or agree with the accusations leveled against it.

My friend came from a family that was somewhat religiously inclined. She was never interested in school or having a set career South Asians choose for their children (i.e. doctor, engineer, lawyer, banker) and so, she carefully slipped into a comfort zone that was her religion. Islam tied her to the rest of her family. It gave her a sense of belonging and provided ideas she could contribute when discussions arose, which was often. Her religion was her identity. I think that’s usually the reason we turn to religion, for a sense of belonging and legacy. But turning to a religion without understanding it is like polishing firewood. Sadly, our emotions get the better of us and we neglect the intellectual imperative of understanding the nuances of religion. We defend our beliefs, without comprehension which makes our arguments limp; thereby dissuading non-Muslims even further. Most fail to understand religion because we are taught that questioning is deserving of hellfire, so we silently obey and follow those that teach it.

A recent opinion piece by Eric Weiner in the New York Times explains how “the Nones” or the “people who say they have no religious affiliation at all” are the most rapidly growing group of people in the United States; currently, they make up approximately 12 percent of the population. In Pakistan, we see the Reverts claiming ground.

I see reverting every day with my friends. They’re pulled into the fervent fascination of religion, and feed their curiosity by following one or several neighborhood clerics. Or better yet, someone on television. It is these clerics that later align themselves with political parties or form one of their own (Tehreek-e-Talban is well known). Therefore, in order to pull in the vote of the youth, all political parties play at the heartstrings of our newly-religious-youth and chant slogans accented with God‘s name. This isn’t a novel concept, nor one that is restricted to Pakistan. The case is the same in the U.S. where at last weeks Republican Debate in Iowa, almost all the candidates kept advertising how they were the most conservative and proud of their Christian upbringing.

Back in the day, General Zia (Pakistani Military Dictator 3.0) promulgated various laws that were supposedly based on religion; of these, the most famous are the Blasphemy Laws. Under these laws, a religious sect known as Ahmedi’s were declared non-Muslims. One of the famous Ahmedi’s was Dr. Abdus Salam; Pakistan’s only Nobel Laureate. It is said that when he approached General Zia to protest the declarations, Zia said that his religious clerics had advised him that the Ahmedi’s were changing the words of the Qur’an to promote their philosophy. When Dr. Salam proved otherwise, Zia shrugged and said that he would not have set the law as such had he known better. He did not change it then; admitting a mistake is like admitting defeat. Besides, this law had gained Zia popular vote with the youth and the religiously fervent.

Mr. Weiner argues that the rise in the Nones is due to politics – “God is for suckers, and Republicans.” In Pakistan’s case, God is for every political party to manipulate in a manner that benefits them, regardless of its repercussions or the validity of the statements made. This is because everyone wears religion on their sleeve, the religion that they have not studied, or have been misinformed about by their clerics and elders. Like Mr. Weiner points out, we have lost sight of the graces of God and the behavior expected of us. God asks us to be compassionate, like Karen Armstrong explains in her book “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life”, compassion means to endure something with another person; not to feel sorry for them. How can we endure something we don’t fully comprehend?

I wish that the religious clerics that advise our political leaders and Reverts would do so with utmost wisdom, and not with personal hatred or disdain shrouded in a religious chant. I also wish that the Reverts make use of the amenities that are available to them, figure out the truth for themselves, and not follow on hatred towards another people or falsified views of God.

So, although it is considered inopportune to discuss religion and politics at the dinner table, this holiday season, let us do just that. Ask your friends and family to explain their views and you get a moment to explain yours. Respect each others opinions and realize that it is perfectly fine to disagree, so long as your views are researched and not standing on a pile of ill-founded emotions that you picked out of someone else’s recycling bin.