191/25 Punjab Bets on Youth to Safeguard Its Past and Shape Its Future
Posted 1 week ago
Link to Apply: Magnificent Punjab Internship Program
The Chief Minister of Punjab has set an impressive precedent by launching the Magnificent Punjab Tourism Internship Program. This fully funded initiative, unlike many other internship schemes, seeks to merge youth employment with cultural preservation. It is not just about providing work experience, but about instilling a sense of responsibility and ownership in the province’s young people towards their heritage and history.
A new model for opportunity
The programme offers 1,000 internships across Punjab, each lasting three months and carrying a monthly stipend of PKR 60,000. Graduates between 21 and 28, with degrees earned within the past two years, are invited to apply. The selection process is competitive, with a panel of experts evaluating each application based on academic performance, relevant experience, and a personal statement. The government has already announced that applications for the next batch will close in mid-September 2025.
Eligibility spans a wide range of disciplines like tourism, archaeology, history, business, marketing, IT, and even visual arts. This diversity is not a coincidence, but a deliberate choice to avoid a narrow vocational approach. Instead, the scheme frames cultural promotion as an interdisciplinary enterprise, recognizing that it requires storytellers, digital marketers, researchers, and heritage managers working together.
Linking classrooms to culture
For Punjab’s graduates, the internship offers more than a pay cheque. It promises a bridge between the classroom and the province’s sprawling cultural landscape. Interns will be placed at historic forts, museums, tourism offices, and digital promotion hubs, where their assignments may range from cataloguing archaeological artefacts to creating social media campaigns that reframe Punjab for global audiences.
The design is deliberate. The province is cultivating what officials describe as “a new generation of cultural custodians” by placing young professionals in spaces where history, heritage, and tourism intersect. It is a recognition that tourism cannot thrive on monuments alone; it requires human narratives, preservation skills, and the ability to connect local heritage with international curiosity.
Standards and structure
Unlike many unpaid or informal internships that prevail in South Asia, the Magnificent Punjab programme sets strict professional standards. Attendance will be tracked through GPS-enabled systems, interns will be expected to adhere to formal dress codes, and leave is tightly regulated. Assignments are to be completed punctually, with an emphasis on confidentiality and professionalism.
This might sound rigid, but in practice it seeks to instil workplace discipline while signalling that the government takes these internships seriously. The scheme offers financial independence alongside clear expectations and is a genuine stepping stone to future employment.
Youth, employment, and symbolism
The timing of the programme is crucial. With graduate unemployment rising and many young people forced into underpaid or informal work, Punjab’s decision to provide fully funded, structured internships addresses economic insecurity and professional stagnation. The stipend of PKR 60,000 is substantial by local standards; it grants interns financial dignity, allowing them to focus on learning rather than survival.
At the same time, the scheme carries symbolic weight. Cultural heritage in Pakistan is often viewed as the domain of government departments or a few specialist academics. By opening the field to young graduates, the programme reframes heritage as a collective responsibility and opportunity. It tells young people: this history is yours, and so is the work of preserving and promoting it.
Tourism as soft power
Punjab’s initiative also reflects a growing awareness that cultural tourism can be a form of soft power. From the Mughal architecture of Lahore to the Buddhist heritage sites of Taxila, the province has landmarks that attract scholars, travellers, and filmmakers alike. Yet the potential remains underdeveloped, often hampered by a lack of infrastructure and international visibility.
By training interns in heritage management and tourism promotion, the government is effectively investing in future ambassadors, young professionals who can position Punjab on the global map as a destination and a cultural brand. This is no small investment in an age of digital storytelling, where a well-curated campaign can reach millions abroad.
A wider precedent
The Magnificent Punjab programme is noteworthy as a regional policy and a model with broader relevance. Across the Global South, governments struggle to reconcile graduate unemployment with the need to preserve cultural assets. Paid internships in heritage and tourism could offer a path forward investing in young people while safeguarding history.
More broadly, the scheme challenges the exploitative culture of unpaid internships that has long dominated South Asia. Punjab pays interns fairly and sets a precedent: if governments truly value young people’s labour and ideas, they must back it with financial commitment.
Looking forward
In a province where Mughal mosques stand alongside modern universities and where history continues to shape identity, the Magnificent Punjab internship is more than a policy. It is an invitation for young graduates to see themselves not only as job seekers but also as custodians of culture, storytellers of the present, and architects of the future.
