EDITORIAL: The highly disturbing picture that emerged during a recent hearing of the Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis with respect to the state of the country’s workforce employed abroad – mainly in the Gulf region – should send alarm bells ringing among governmental quarters.
At the hearing, the secretary of Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development revealed that the deteriorating standard of the Pakistani workforce and its poor working practices have led Gulf employers to increasingly hire personnel belonging to other countries.
From Kuwaiti officials complaining of Pakistani nurses refusing to perform certain duties to Qatari authorities lamenting the inability of labourers to follow basic safety protocols, like wearing helmets, disregard for workplace ethics appears all too prevalent among expatriates.
Added to this is the troubling reality that a major portion of the workforce remains unskilled and poorly trained in areas that are most in demand in economies that are now increasingly focusing on making strides in modern technologies.
It goes without saying that foreign remittances coming in from overseas Pakistanis have always played a critical role in shoring up our flailing economy, stabilising volatile foreign exchange reserves and supplementing incomes of hundreds of thousands of households, dependent on these inflows.
With Pakistan having one of the largest diasporas in the world, numbering close to 10 million people, the potential this vital resource has to propel the economy forward and play its role in reflecting a positive image of the country is immense, and any development that threatens its strength must be addressed forthwith.
It is clear that the poor standard of education imparted within the country, along with a lack of focus on skill development and vocational training, are now resulting in the substandard quality of workforce being sent abroad.
While Pakistan has signed around 50 international employment agreements since October 2023, enabling both the government and private employment agencies to send an increasing number of workers overseas, there appears to be little evidence of effective training programmes aimed at preparing these workers for the modern, global workplace.
There is an urgent need to invest in enhanced training initiatives that focus on technical skills, cultural competencies and language training that readies workers for the specific challenges they may face in a foreign country. Furthermore, the importance of cultural awareness training that focuses on educating people on cultural norms and what constitutes as acceptable behaviour and what does not, cannot be overstated, especially since concerns have been expressed by the UAE officials regarding the inappropriate conduct of some Pakistanis, which includes making videos of women in public places without their consent.
Another troubling detail that emerged at the Senate hearing related to increasing crimes within the diaspora, with 50 percent of the crime rate among the UAE labour force reportedly being attributed to Pakistanis. Also relevant is a report from September 2023, which had revealed that organised gangs of Pakistani beggars were found operating in Iraq and Saudi Arabia where they had travelled under the guise of pilgrimage, with Saudi authorities reporting that 90 percent of all beggars they arrested were from Pakistan.
The failure of relevant government agencies to strengthen oversight mechanisms and prevent misuse of travel documents must be rectified so that both the integrity of immigration processes and our image abroad can be preserved.
It would be pertinent to note that while the remittances for FY2023-24 clocked in at $30.3 billion, a 10.7 percent surge over the previous fiscal year, this encouraging trend is bound to take a hit if we don’t pay heed to the needs of the international marketplace that demands a modern, competitive workforce that can hold its own globally. The relevant authorities as well as members of the diaspora would do well to remember this reality.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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