Technical Skills for Coastal Youth of Balochistan

In other parts of the world, there is a stronger tendency to integrate host communities when there is a mega engineered project underway. The authorities open vocational centers, upgrade academic institutions, and offer work to the local youth in the project. They invest in the idea of stewardship. Pakistan’s vision of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) also includes the wellbeing of people and the promotion of socio-economic development in the region. For the coastal belt, collaboration in fisheries, coastal tourism, logistics, and construction of a connectivity infrastructure are intended under the CPEC. The marine resources of Balochistan will play a vital as well. However, to utilize them positively, the inclusion of several thousand coastal youths is critical.

Pakistan endorses the right to education; fundamental and part of the Constitution as well committed to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 5 to provide inclusive and equitable quality education and learning opportunities for the youth. However, in the coastal belt of Balochistan(700km), over 95% of the local schools consist of a mere single room with a single teacher. More than half of the coastal youth have no access to education. The majority cannot afford paid education. There are major coastal settlements with the population divided between Lasbela (544292) and Gwadar (263514) districts of Balochistan. However, the scattered populace in small coastal towns present a situation where a school is inaccessible, lacking transportation, infrastructure and digital connectivity.

Hub is the first industrial area of the coastal region of Balochistan, bordering Sindh. The skilled labor force is high in demand. However, only low-wage paying jobs are available because people do not fall under skilled-labor criteria. The government runs, not a single school. The Citizens Foundation (TCF) in Goth Haji Alano has a private school up to Matric level as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of HUBCO. However, a pass-out of TCF school requires an additional skill-based diploma to earn a work placement. Lacking vocational training has resulted in incompetent, useless human resources. As a result, a significant coastal youth population has become drug-addicts. The situation is similar in the fishing towns of Kalmat, Pasni, and Chur Bander, which are part of Pasni tehsil of Gwadar. The areas are swamped with drug mafia.

The share of employed fishery workers with technical or vocational training as major occupational groups is about 13 % under the Pakistan Employment Trends (2018). A decrease in employment share has been seen in fishing by 38% under the Pakistan Labour Force Survey (2017-2018). Even the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) does not invest in indigenous coastal industries and skills.

Gadani, which is famous for its beach and ship-breaking yard, is a large coastal tehsil in district Lasbela. However, labor is preferred and brought from the Pashtun belt. The local youth has mostly remained unemployed in the shipbreaking industry and instead live on artisanal fishing. Another primary fishing site on the coastal belt, Dam Bandar, is known for the marine riches and Sonmiani bay. However, the local youth, despite die heart fisherfolk, complain of dated skills in the fishing sector. Similarly, Kund Malir, which is famous for its golden beach, only has a functional primary level school. Due to the potential for maritime tourism and hospitality, the coastal youth of these areas want to acquire 21st-century skills in the related professions.  

Gwadar town, which is the hot spot for CPEC induced development and other strategic infrastructure, only campus of the University of Turbat is situated there. A school was inaugurated in collaboration with Chinese in Gwadar and provided with teaching staff. While according to some, the quality and student to teacher ratio at the institution is not satisfactory. Recently, the groundbreaking of the Pak-China Technical and Vocational Institute was held at Gwadar. However, it will take two more years to kick start the classes. Jiwani, which borders Iran, is a last coastal town of the coastal belt of Balochistan, does not have any vocational institute. The fishing towns of Sur Bander and Pishukan are not any different.

The only less stressful practice comes from Ormara, known for Jinnah Naval Base and Cadet College Ormara. Bahria Foundation School is operational in Ormara as well as the Cadet College of Pakistan Navy. The Cadet College accepts 50% enrollment from Balochistan with a full scholarship, out of which a 50% quota is reserved for students from the coastal belt. The Pakistan Navy employs close to 500 locals and generally enjoys a good reputation in the vicinity. However, the area lacks a vocational institute for the youth.

Lacking the necessary endowments to avail the opportunities that would arise from CPEC, the coastal youth fear of getting marginalized from the development activities, explains a study conducted by the Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad on perceptions mapping of Coastal Communities of Balochistan. “With a lack of potential skills and quality education, the locals are not offered work in considerable numbers in the ongoing projects. The Chinese involved in the project prefer to bring their labor from China. The nonlocals moving from other parts of the country to Gwadar would have better chances to thrive with superior knowledge and skills than the local population”. Therefore, the coastal youth want to reconnect with the sea, to their ancestral profession and the traditional sea. They are keen to learn modern 21st-century skills and carry on with the legacy of their forefathers who are hereditary fishermen and seafarers. The coastal youth will eventually prove a milestone in all the efforts of the federal government, Navy, and the maritime agencies to make Pakistan a maritime nation in the world. It would diffuse deep-rooted grievances against the state that are projected out disproportionally.

The government should initially declare an education emergency for the coastal belt. Conduct a detailed survey of the coastline of Balochistan to determine actual on-ground education facilities, vocational centers, and teaching capacity. Then devise a sustainable framework towards educational policy focusing on specialized maritime skills and bridge the gap with infrastructure and employment of qualified educationists.