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21st-century Pakistan is undeniably a world of breaking news and viral trends. Smartphones and social media platforms consume a significant portion of our everyday lives. Among the 247 million people in Pakistan, 43.55 million are on Facebook, 13.75 million are Instagram users, 3.4 million are on TikTok and over 26 million are out of schools.
Digital revolution has transformed the 21st century world, connecting people, spreading information rapidly and making news go viral.
Yet, in this hyper-connected world, one of Pakistan’s gravest crises, surpassing Nigeria in terms of out-of-school children, has failed to go viral!
This raises a critical concern. Although millions of Pakistanis remain engaged online, the education emergency, despite its gravity, has failed to trigger a sense of collective urgency. It gets buried under fleeting, entertainment-driven content; highlighting a troubling disconnect among the people.
Why is the threatened future of over 26 million children not a trending topic of public discourse, was the primary question discussed in episode 9 of Season 3 of Let’s Talk Education. The podcast series- a collaborative effort of Pakistan Coalition for Education and Bolo Jawan explores potential strategies and solutions to transform the public education system. Episode 9 featured an interesting discussion on how to effectively use social media to harness the power of the public and strengthen the collective demand for ensuring access to free and quality education for all.
The harsh reality of education in Pakistan
Pakistan’s education crisis is not just 26 million out-of-school children. It is also:
• The low learning outcomes due to the declining quality of education;
• Inadequate education financing, far less than the required global benchmark of 4-6% of GDP allocation;
• Education financing being overburdened by recurring expenditures, leaving mere crumbs for development;
• A widening gap on the supply side in a system that is under-capacitated to not only absorb the 26 million OOSC but also to accommodate the nearly 2% annual increase in the school-age population.
“We have more than 26 million broken dreams. It’s a reverse gear.” – Areebah Shahid
These dreams of education are guaranteed under Article 25-A of the constitution for every child, without any racial, ethnic, gender, social and economic discrimination. However, political unrest, lack of political consensus and changes in education policy have continuously made the journey of realizing Article 25-A a distant and difficult dream.
Digital advocacy dilemma: How can we make education go viral?
The Covid-19 pandemic triggered an immediate and unified response, with millions of people spending months in lockdown. Pakistan’s education crisis, arguably equally devastating in the long term, continues to be met with indifference. This is because, unfortunately, the Education Emergency is not treated with the same sense of urgency by the public or the government.
“We have entered an echo chamber where the same voices are talking to each other. These conversations need to be taken outside this circle.” said Imran Ghazali, Founder and CEO, Optimize Digital. Renowned as a pioneer of successful social media advocacy, he pointed out that most of the messaging on education issues focuses on donors as the primary audience, consequently failing to capture the attention of the larger local audience.
Moreover, the language of the content plays a crucial role. Pakistan’s literacy rate stands at 62.8%, with wide rural-urban disparities of 54% versus 77%. This is an important consideration as the majority of OOSC come from a rural and low-economic quantile, with parents who have low educational backgrounds and literacy themselves. Thus, any content in English is bound to have a lesser impact as it will fail to resonate with the larger public.
Social media usage in Pakistan has primarily revolved around entertainment and politics, making education a less talked about topic. This is why even though every public institution, political figure and political party is present on social media including the Prime Minister, the announcement of an Education Emergency failed to trend.
Turning the tide for digital education advocacy
Alif Ailaan and Tabarak Rehman’s marathon for TCF have proven that digital advocacy done right does garner public attention.
“If one creator can raise a million dollars in a month, why aren’t we using the same strategies for education?” – Imran Ghazali.
Education advocacy is a collective responsibility. Influencers and celebrities must use their voice to push education crisis in spotlight and make it part of mainstream narrative. To change this narrative, we need bold campaigns, grassroots engagement, and a digital strategy that speaks to the people, not just donors and policymakers.
Click below to watch the full episode: ⤵
