Since independence Pakistani academic institutions working in the public sector have been following a curriculum, capable of producing ‘dignified clerks only’. Lately, some of the private sector universities have introduced new disciplines, but experts are of the consensus that an entirely new range of subjects have to be introduced to meet the emerging local demand and especially to cater to the overseas markets.
Agriculture education should be the topmost priority. Crop yields in Pakistan are below the world average. To improve yield, new verities have to be developed which are resistant to common diseases and capable of giving better yields. In this regard, the initial focus should be on wheat, rice, maize and sugarcane. Producing an exportable surplus will not only help in earning extra foreign exchange but also help in bringing down the average cost of production.
Pakistan has a reasonably large number of agriculture universities in the country. There are some islands of excellence, but overall, their performance is disappointing. The verities being sown in the country have lost their effectiveness. This is evident from poor yields, susceptibility to pest and virus attacks.
Under the supply chain management, a special curriculum has to be developed for warehouse management (rent a warehouse). It is on record that nearly 20% of the food grains and over 40% of vegetables and fruits go stale before reaching the market, which is a colossal loss. If these are contained the country could achieve food security, the income of farmers would improve and per capita income would improve substantially. The added advantage is that the flow of people from rural areas to urban areas would also be stopped.
Value addition is the weakest area of the agriculture sector. Pakistan produced a reasonably good quantity of cotton, but the focus has remained on the export of raw cotton, yarn of low counts and unprocessed cloth. According to sector experts if the country invested in value addition Pakistan’s exports could be doubled.
Value addition is disappointing in the food industry. Pakistan is among the top five largest milk-producing countries, but less than 10% of total milk is packed in tetra packs. The country produces a limited quantity of dairy products. The result is huge quantity of high-end dairy and confectionary products have to be imported, which is a burden on the paltry foreign exchange reserves of the country.
Exploration and production activities in the country have remained at low level only because the country does not have an adequate workforce. Pakistan, particularly Sindh produces huge quantity of gas but extensive load shedding has to be done because a huge quantity of gas is lost due to leakage of lines and pilferage. These leakages and pilferages are due to poor maintenance of transmission and distribution lines.
Refining is also a neglected area, not only the owners have failed in undertaking timely BMR, but also failed in developing installation and maintenance teams.
The sugar industry is also inefficient because most of the mills don’t have qualified sugar technologists on their payroll. At the best mills produce refined sugar, a substantial quantity of molasses is exported and baggage is burnt in the boilers. The country produces a small quantity of ethanol, but has failed to promote the use of biofuels. The result is that every year billions of dollars have to be spent on the import of crude oil and finished products. The most disappointing fact is that the country is capable of refining 20 million barrels of crude oil per annum, but average capacity utilization is far from satisfactory.
Lately, information technology has gone through enormous development but local universities have not been able to produce technology-savvy people. The problem is further aggravated because of the outflow of qualified people is large numbers. The policy planners fail to understand is IT is a tool and it can only be operated if people are equipped with the latest technology.
It has become the need of the time to revisit the curriculum of universities. It may be true that universities operating in the public sector are slow in accepting the change, but private sector universities should undertake linkage programs.