Diplomacy
Arunachal’s Restless Frontier: Why the India-China Border Is Heating Up Again
By Sameer Hussain |
From a line drawn in 1914 to a standoff at Taksing in 2026, the eastern…
Education
Skills, Power, and the Planet: Vocational Reflections from Jamshoro, Pakistan
By Editor in-Chief | May 9, 2026
Guest 03 : Dr. Wazir Ali Jamali (Jaffarabad, Sindh to Balochistan, Pakistan)
For this session, we continue our exploration by connecting directly with a practitioner working at the intersection of technical education and ecological awareness. We are pleased that our discussion takes us to “Jaffarabad”, a district in Pakistan’s Sindh-Balochistan province, where the Indus River meets semi-arid landscapes and a complex tapestry of industrial development, agricultural livelihoods, and environmental vulnerability.
What’s Going On in Jaffarabad and Pakistan’s TVET Landscape?
The Jaffarabad region stands out for its unique blend of semi-urban development, industrial infrastructure, and proximity to rural agricultural communities. Located along the Indus River, approximately 150 kilometers north of Karachi, the district features a diverse landscape that includes the arid Kirthar mountain range to the west, the fertile plains of the Indus Valley to the east, and the man-made Keenjhar Lake-one of Pakistan’s largest freshwater reservoirs. The climate is extreme, with scorching summers reaching above 45°C and monsoon rains that often bring both relief and devastating floods a reality that has become more acute in the Anthropocene.
The population is dominated by Sindhi-speaking Muslims, alongside significant Pashtun and Baloch communities, as well as a small but historically rooted Hindu minority. The region is known for its Sufi traditions, particularly the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in nearby Sehwan, which attracts devotees from across Pakistan. Culturally, Jaffarabad is a crossroads where rural agrarian life meets industrial development cement factories, thermal power plants, and the University of Sindh (established in 1947) coexist with traditional farming and fishing communities.
Politically and economically, Jaffarabad reflects many of Pakistan’s national challenges: water scarcity, energy shortages, rising debt, and vulnerability to climate-induced disasters. The 2022 floods, which submerged nearly one-third of Pakistan, hit Sindh province disproportionately hard, destroying millions of homes and livelihoods. For vocational education and training (TVET) institutions in the region, this has become an urgent call to action: how can technical skills help communities adapt, survive, and rebuild?
For this installment, we interviewed a TVET practitioner from Jamshoro who has spent years working at the intersection of vocational training, technology, and environmental responsibility. His reflections offer a critical lens on what it means to educate the next generation of technicians, engineers, and skilled workers in the age of the Anthropocene.
He views the Anthropocene not merely as a geological epoch, but as a “pedagogical crisis” a failure of education systems to prepare young people for the ecological realities they will inherit. Power, in his analysis, is deeply interconnected: those who control curricula, training budgets, and certification standards determine whether young people are equipped to be agents of sustainability or merely cogs in a destructive industrial machine. His personal experiences in Jaffarabad have only reinforced this conviction. In his own words:
“Growing up in Jaffarabad exposed me to both the benefits and limitations of technological development in a semi-urban context. I witnessed how education, particularly technical education, can transform livelihoods, but also how environmental concerns are often overlooked. This shaped my belief that vocational education must integrate sustainability alongside technical skills.”
Furthermore, his experience in Pakistan places the environment at the heart of “skills development, social justice, and governance”. In zones of climate vulnerability and economic inequality, environmental issues are not separate from “employability” or “economic growth,” but rather part of the daily struggle for survival, dignity, and a livable future.
Pakistan’s ecological and social context water scarcity, recurrent floods, rapid urbanization, and deep socioeconomic inequalities demands that TVET be “context-specific and ecologically literate”. For him, power and politics must entail a moral obligation, whereby educators and policymakers protect the environment through curricula that prioritize sustainability and fairness, rather than merely pursuing short-term economic efficiency.
Then we asked: “How can we address this crisis systemically?”
His answer was unequivocal: the environmental crisis reflects a gap in skills and awareness a gap that has been reproduced by TVET systems that prioritize technical efficiency and employability over ecological responsibility. Decisions about what to teach, how to teach it, and who gets access to training always reveal “who benefits and who bears the costs.”
He offered several concrete solutions, including:
- Project-based, hands-on learning - renewable energy installations, waste management systems, sustainable agriculture practices that allow learners to “do” sustainability, not just hear about it
- Integration of local traditions and cultural values – Pakistani and Islamic teachings on stewardship (khalifa), simplicity, and community responsibility can be powerful tools for shaping environmentally conscious technicians
- Community-based training programs- where learners work on real-life environmental challenges in their own neighborhoods, from solar installations to recycling initiatives
- Curriculum reform that embeds sustainability meaningfully- not as an “add-on” but as a core competency, assessed and certified alongside technical skills
Furthermore, according to him, “TVET institutions themselves play a crucial role” in shaping an ecologically conscious generation that understands “ecology = core professional responsibility,” rather than merely an optional module. He argues that these institutions are crucial in preparing a skilled workforce capable of climate adaptation by promoting green skills, innovation, and resilience.
However, while solutions exist, the challenges of implementation are real. Environmental policies in education often fail not due to a lack of discourse, but because of weak implementation, outdated curricula, limited resources, and a lack of trained instructors. He is blunt about the biggest challenge “Avoiding superficial integration. Sustainability must be embedded meaningfully, not treated as an add-on.”
When asked why the gap between discourse and practice persists, he pointed to policy implementation failure. Ecological concepts, he believes, can serve as a tool to critique development models that prioritize profit and industrial growth over long-term sustainability and intergenerational responsibility.
Yet he also sees hope. Technology-based TVET, he argues, “can” promote alternative models focused on sustainability, efficiency, and local needs-rather than purely industrial growth. This is not a rejection of technology, but a redirection of its purpose toward repair rather than extraction.
Finally, we asked: “What are the concrete steps moving forward, and what is your message to young people in Pakistan?”
According to him, the youth are not bystanders but architects of the future. He concluded the interview with a powerful message:
“Your skills are powerful-use them responsibly. Technology should not only improve lives but also protect the planet for future generations. TVET should not only produce skilled workers but responsible citizens who understand the environmental impact of their work.”
Posted in Education
