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Key Indicator : Secondary education enrolment rate, Mean years of schooling, Female labour force participation
Highly skilled human resources are vital to the tourism sector as dealing in tourist services requires an educated and trained workforce that is put to use efficiently.[93] The share of Pakistan’s T&T sector in total employment was 5.2% in 2020 but declined to 5.1% in 2021.[94] Pakistan is ranked 91 with a score of 3.6 in the T&T Development Report 2021 in this pillar. The country’s position in the allocation of human resources in the tourism industry has improved when compared to its rankings in the previous report of 2019.
In 2019, the country’s primary education enrolment rate was at 95.48%, but the secondary education enrolment rate was much less, i.e. 44.87%, with both enrolments having risen by around 4% since 2017.[95] At the same time, the mean years of schooling were 5.06 in 2019.[96] Moreover, Pakistan’s labour market is still struggling to utilise human resources efficiently, with the current female labour force participation rate for 2022 being at 21%, having a 1% increase from 2021.[97]
Ehsaas Educational Scholarship Programme where children from poor and needy families of the society are being given scholarships (higher amount for girls) for primary, secondary, and higher secondary education.
The previous government launched Pakistan’s most ambitious agenda yet on education which include reforms at three educational levels; Primary, secondary, and tertiary, as well as vocational and special education. Within its first 100 days, the government announced the National Education Policy Framework 2018 and gave itself a target of enrolling 20 million out-of-school children within five years.[98] Up to 2019, the federal government enrolled over 7,000 out-of-school children in phase one (age 5-8) of its enrolment drive to enrol 30,000 for Islamabad Capital Territory, while phase two (age 9-11) enrolment is in progress.[99] The latest figures for the provincial enrolment drive of out-of-school children have not been shared yet.
Ehsaas Educational Scholarship Programme was initiated, where children from poor and needy families of the society are being given scholarships (higher amount for girls) for primary, secondary, and higher secondary education.[100]
Moreover, the government has partnered with the UN[101] for a Multi-Year Resilience Programme with $13.2 m funding to support education for the most vulnerable children and adolescents in 2022.[102]
For the development of skills, during Gwadar Expo 2019, an agreement was signed under CPEC to develop the skills of local residents under “Pak-China Technical & Vocational Institute” to meet the demands of port operations, i.e., the Gwadar Port Free Zone, the Export Processing Zone, and other industrial and allied industries such as tourism, hotel management, and hospitality management.[103]
In 2020, the Prime Minister launched the nation’s largest-ever skill development program, Hunarmand Nojawan, worth $30bn[104], which has trained over 170,000 youth as yet.[105]
In addition, the party manifestos of major political parties in the country refer to increasing women’s participation in the public sector by setting substantial quotas for them in government and public bodies. The government has indeed made efforts to encourage female employment by setting a minimum quota of 10% in public sector employment and by establishing women hostels, day-cares, and transport facilities at workplaces.[106]
Attention is being given to improve the quality of human resources and attempts being made to narrow the gender gap in the labour force. which will positively impact Pakistan’s labour-intensive tourism industry.