Educational partnerships open new pathways for Pakistan’s youth
Through partnerships with leading schools and colleges, JA Pakistan is expanding experiential learning that prepares young people to manage money, explore careers, create businesses, and contribute to a changing economy.
A young person may first discover an entrepreneurial mindset without ever using the word “entrepreneur.” It can happen when she notices a problem in her community and begins imagining a solution. It can emerge when a team develops a product, weighs its costs, listens to potential customers, and adapts its idea. Or it can begin with a simple realization: the skills learned in a classroom can create value far beyond it.
Experiences like these help young people connect education with possibility. Through a growing network of educational partnerships, JA Pakistan is working to make them available to more youth across the country.
New collaborations with Aitchison College, The Educators and Concordia Colleges by Beaconhouse, and SICAS Liberty Campus will expand access to practical learning in entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and work readiness. Although the institutions differ in size, reach, and student population, they share an important goal: preparing young people to make informed choices and participate confidently in a rapidly changing economy.
The need for this preparation is becoming increasingly urgent. In Pakistan, unemployment among young people ages 15 to 24 stood at 11.1 percent in the Labour Force Survey 2020–21, highlighting the importance of helping students build practical skills and prepare for the transition from education to work. Employers continue to value analytical and creative thinking, resilience, technological literacy, leadership, and the ability to work effectively with others.
Young people develop these capabilities through practice. They need opportunities to make decisions, test ideas, work through uncertainty, and learn from both successful and unsuccessful outcomes. That is the role of experiential learning.
Rather than treating career preparation as a conversation that begins shortly before graduation, JA programs introduce age-appropriate economic concepts and practical skills throughout a young person’s education. Students learn how money choices affect their goals, how businesses respond to needs, and how personal strengths can connect with future careers.
Hassan Pagganwala, Executive Director of JA Pakistan shares,
“As Pakistan prepares its young people for an increasingly connected and fast-changing world, classroom learning must be complemented by opportunities to apply knowledge in practical ways. Organizations such as JA can support educators by bringing experiential learning into schools, helping students explore careers, manage money, develop ideas, and build the skills they will need for the future.”
At Aitchison College in Lahore, this learning will span the institution’s Junior, Prep, and Senior Schools, which together educate more than 3,000 students. Under the partnership established on October 2, 2026, the three schools will implement JA Pakistan’s six programs, along with the Career Success Workshop developed in collaboration with SAP.
Introducing these experiences across different stages of education allows knowledge and confidence to develop progressively. Younger learners can begin by exploring communities, needs, wants, and responsible choices. Older learners can engage with increasingly complex questions about business creation, personal finance, career planning, and workplace expectations.
The result is a learning journey that helps young people see entrepreneurship, financial capability, and employability as skills they can build over time.
JA Pakistan’s partnership with The Educators creates the potential to bring this approach to a broad and diverse student population. A project of Beaconhouse, The Educators, serves more than 200,000 students through over 900 campuses in more than 225 cities. The partnership, formalized on September 30, 2026, also includes plans to implement JA Pakistan’s senior-level programs across Concordia Colleges.
Students’ access to career guidance, business role models, financial education, and practical workplace exposure can vary significantly according to where they live and study. A wide educational network can help bring more consistent learning opportunities to young people across different communities.
Through JA experiences, young people can practice identifying opportunities, understanding costs and revenue, communicating ideas, and contributing to a team. They can explore multiple routes to economic participation, including employment, further education, entrepreneurship, and business ownership.
At SICAS Liberty Campus, the JA Company Program, Be Entrepreneurial, and the Career Success Workshop will provide another pathway from learning to action. The partnership, established on October 6, 2026, will enable learners to explore what it takes to develop an idea, organize a team, understand customers, make financial decisions, and present their work with confidence.
In the JA Company Program, for example, learners experience the decisions and responsibilities involved in creating a youth-led venture. The process develops more than business knowledge. It encourages accountability, collaboration, adaptability, and resilience. Learners discover that progress often depends on listening, revising, and continuing after an idea does not work as expected.
Together, these educational partnerships represent the beginnings of a stronger national learning ecosystem. Schools and colleges provide trusted environments in which youth can develop. Educators help connect JA experiences with each institution’s learning priorities. Volunteers and corporate partners can contribute real-world perspectives, career insights, and examples of how skills are applied beyond the classroom.
By connecting schools, colleges, educators, businesses, and digital platforms, JA Pakistan is helping more young people move from exploring possibilities to shaping futures of their own.