Going overseas is, and has been, a human tradition since time immemorial. Man has always sought greener pastures across the oceans and over the valleys and mountains. The impetus is the human need for more than he has, the instinct which keeps man in a constant state of unfulfillment.
The same is the case with the Pakistani youth of today. The impetus, however, is no longer a curiosity for foreign lands or the striving for knowledge. It is the most primitive instinct of all, survival. Today’s Pakistan presents a desolate landscape fraught with desperation and danger at every step. Employment, once provided by the government, no longer exists for most. Spiraling inflation has brought the populace to its knees. Every youth has been exposed to a scenario in which parents struggle to make ends meet. Lack of entertainment provides youth with unending hours of idleness.
This idle time is filled with TV and the internet. Beautiful foreign lands, in which everyone leads a life of fun and luxury, and where every youth is living in a flat and has a great job, are what our youth now believe in waiting for them once they leave Pakistan.
But first they must get a degree or qualification which is of value outside Pakistan. So the youth of Pakistan have now decided that if they are to work hard and study for a qualification, they will only do it abroad. No use of doing so in this country. Thus, they leave their country in thousands every month.
Of course, a few actually do so because studying abroad means learning; learning of the latest developments in their particular field, on-the-job training and knowledge that can actually be applied to the real world. All that is missing in most local institutes of education, it has to be admitted.
So, the so-called brain drain will flow on unabated, until we realise that one day it will have to be stopped if Pakistan is to have a future.
HASSAN AYUB
Lahore