Lahore: During mobilization sessions, forms from over 400 students were received who expressed interest in becoming a part of three student societies. After discussion with the faculty members and going through the selection criteria, our team selected 50 students to become a part of three committees Culture, peace, and Radio Society.
These sessions focused on how general and executive members can play their roles effectively to reduce the attraction of youth towards extremism. In these sessions, students were told about SAPs and their usefulness, leadership, self-confidence, cyber social responsibility, social entrepreneurship, and conflict management. In total, 50 students (02 groups of 25 participants each) were trained on CVE across 4 training workshops.
The training workshop held on 3rd August 2021 to : 6th August 2021 at Department of Communication Studies, University of Punjab, Lahore.25 participants in Group B, including 60% female students.
Day One: 3rd August
Trainer: Mr. Naushad
President Media Foundation 360 Mr. Mubasher Bukhari and Project Manager Mr. Hasnain Tirmazi briefed the participants about this project and their role in upcoming activities related to CVE and peace-related themes. The participants included students from different departments including Mass Communication, Political Science, Sociology, and Gender Studies.
Mr. Naushad, a senior journalist and social media expert held the first training session with the students. Mr. Naushad talked about the role of social media and cyber laws in Pakistan. He shared with the students the dynamics of social media in developed countries versus Pakistan. He presented a comparative analysis of social media usage in developed countries and in Pakistan. Upon various questions from the participants, Mr. Naushad said that in Pakistan social media is in its teething phase right now. However, he stressed that this time is also critical in defining the future trends of social media in the country. He encouraged students to study the dynamics of social media in Pakistan deeply so that they can play a defining role in setting out positive trends of social media in this society.
He also talked about the status of cyber laws in Pakistan. He said that the government will gradually improve the laws with the passage of time since it is comparatively a new medium. He presented principal cyber laws that are being developed and implemented in Pakistan. Students also took special interest in this regard and had a discussion with the trainer on using this platform responsibly. They also expressed surprise over the fact that most of them, despite being regular users of social media, did not know about most of the cyber laws and how cyber security works in Pakistan.
Day Two: 4th August 2021
Trainer: Ameera Javeria
Ms. Ameera Javeria, a journalist and academician, held the session with the students. Ms. Javeria spoke to the students about the characteristics of leadership and the power of self-confidence. She shared the qualities of world top leaders, followed by discussion, case studies, and Q&A session. Students participated actively in this activity and shared which qualities are more determined in their opinion. The group also discussed the characteristics of various world leaders and how the policies of their respective states keep changing with the change in leaders.
Ms. Javeria also discussed the importance of self-confidence. She said there is a difference between being self-centered and being self-confident. She shared examples of how being self-centered negatively affects a person, but being self-confident brings about a positive change in the person and on society as a whole.
Day three: 5th August 2021
Trainer: Jawad Butt
Mr. Jawad Butt, a journalist, documentary maker, and a senior producer held the training session with students. Mr. Jawad shared the clips of a few famous documentaries that carried the message of peace and solidarity. After showing the clips, Mr. Jawad Butt shared his opinion on how this medium had played a primary role in uniting societies over a cause or a movement in the past.
An interesting development took place during this session when, during the discussion, a female student from Chitral shared how people from another part of the country think negatively about the culture and values of people from Chitral. The participant volunteered to answer the questions about her culture to dispel misunderstandings about the traditions and culture of the Chitrali people. Many students came up and asked questions, to which she replied patiently and gracefully. By the end of this session, participants admitted that they had many misconceptions about the people from Chitral and all the misconceptions have been cleared after direct interaction with someone who is from that region.
Day four: 6th August 2021
Students from Groups A and B were gathered together and were assigned their groups. Project Manager Mr. Hasnain Tirmazi assigned them their respective student society and briefed them about their roles and responsibilities in future activities. A question and answer session was held since students had many questions regarding the project and the upcoming projects.
President of Media Foundation 360, Mr. Mubasher Bukhari held a session with students to further explain to them the outcome and objectives of upcoming activities. He also welcomed feedback on training sessions and their learning outcomes.
Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr. Muhammad Saleem Mazhar was invited to the concluding ceremony. He expressed his appreciation towards students for becoming a part of the activities and for their commitment to spreading the CVE message across the campus. Mr Mazhar also thanked Media Foundation 360 for initiating this program that trained not only the students but also the faculty members. He also expressed his delight over the fact that both teachers and students will work together and arrange activities to promote peace and harmony. At the end of the ceremony certificates were distributed among the participants by the Pro Vice Chancellor.
