Pakistan: Dec ‘09/Jan ‘10

Secondary school pupils from a rural part of northern Pakistan’s Chitral region have begun making the region’s first youth-produced radio programme as part of IWPR’s Open Minds project.

Aside from introducing them to the basics of journalism and the workings of a radio studio, the project’s journalism training involved another new experience: a trip to the region’s main town.Secondary school pupils from a rural part of northern Pakistan’s Chitral region have begun making the region’s first youth-produced radio programme as part of IWPR’s Open Minds project.

Aside from introducing them to the basics of journalism and the workings of a radio studio, the project’s journalism training involved another new experience: a trip to the region’s main town.

“The students were very happy because this was the first time they had been exposed to electronic media, and secondly because most of them had not seen their district capital – Chitral Town (where the radio studion is based),” said Mohammad Yousaf Shahzad, the local journalist who works as an IWPR media trainer.

About 40 students from all eight of the project’s schools and madrassas in Chitral have been involved in the production of six weekly radio programmes so far. All are broadcast on Radio Pakistan Chitral, a state-run FM station. Each programme is one hour long and includes features and news reports.

Students have also held live on-air discussions covering various local issues, such electricity shortages, female education and environmental concerns resulting from unplanned housing construction.

Farid Ahmed, a producer at Radio Pakistan Chitral, said “the participating students have shown good ability in terms of producing quality content”.

Open Minds students receive a training course from their media trainer in their schools, and they then go on to write stories for print media or work in radio studios once they have learnt the basics of responsible journalism.

Local residents take a great interest in the radio programmes. A local community member who works in international development, Fazal Malik, phoned IWPR’s Islamabad office after one of the radio shows to express his thanks for providing young people in the region with such an opportunity.

IWPR works with 16 local journalists to deliver journalism training to 42 schools across Pakistan.

Elsewhere, two supplements consisting of Open Minds trainees’ journalism have been published in two national dailies, the Jang and The News. These supplements will become a regular feature of the newspapers thanks to an agreement IWPR has signed with them.

After these first publications, IWPR received a number of emails and phone calls from individuals and organisations wanting to know more about the project. About 40 students also published articles in other local and national media including the national daily Azadi and Chitral’s weeklies Chitral Times, Chitral Nama, and Awaze Chitral.

Students in Swat also published several stories in the local press, after a late start to their training because of the summer 2009 army operation which saw many schools destroyed and civilians fleeing the area. Their stories covered issues including damaged schools and health facilities in the wake of the operation, and other issues concerned with the basic needs of the large displaced population who have recently returned to Swat.

In the north-western city of Peshawar, female madrassa (Islamic religious school) students wrote about the adverse affects of extremism. A student of the Jamia Islamia Kosht school produced a short article on human rights which was published in Awaze Chitral.

“We must demand our rights such as the establishment of female educational institutions in the area, but the demand should not be aggressive or [carried out] in a violent way,” she wrote.

Two other girls of the same madrassa wrote about the importance of electronic media in gaining information and urged people to use it.

In another Peshawar madrassa, IWPR trainer Shahab-ur-Rehman reported that the students were expressing their opinions openly about the issue of extremism, with the majority holding current government policies responsible for growing radicalism in Pakistan.

Sajid Majid, a gifted student, who studies at a state school as well as taking classes at the madrassa, wrote a detailed article. “Divisions among the Muslims, and the disparity in living standards between the rulers and the masses are the main causes of emerging extremism in Pakistan,” he wrote.

IWPR has signed agreements with various broadcast organisations to increase the exposure available to project trainees. Students will make programmes for the national private TV channel News One, and FM 91 radio in the southern city of Karachi.

The students’ print publications and radio programmes have attracted the attention of government authorities.

During a visit to IWPR’s office in Islamabad, Mir Wali Khan, assistant executive district officer for education in Chitral, said, “I participated in two training sessions in Government Middle School Awi Chitral, and observed that students have gained more confidence.

“The students now use media as tool to alert the public about the concerns faced by students in particular and the public in general.”

Also in Chitral, Amirullah Khan, the local nazim (elected head) of one of the region’s administrative councils, took part in two of the student discussion sessions at the government high schools at Reshun and Charun.

The students, he said, “looked like professional journalists. During a short period of three months the students have made visible progress”.