How Teleschool Can Revolutionize the Educational System in Pakistan
The new television channel, which debuted during the COVID-19 outbreak, may provide kids with the resources they need to succeed as citizens and beyond.

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Children’s media like “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” “Sesame Street,” storybooks, and comic books were popular among those of us who grew up in the US. Early in the 1990s, Pakistani state television showed children’s entertainment programmes including “Ainak Wala Jin” (“The Spectacled Genie”). But, it’s odd that there hasn’t been any children’s media in Pakistan for decades. That changed last week when, in response to school closings brought on by COVID-19, state television introduced a new channel called Teleschool. Pakistan now has the opportunity to reconsider the substance of its failing educational system and how children’s television media can assist fill the gap since the country’s curriculum is now being broadcast into millions of households nationwide.

On June 4, 2013, female students in a lesson at a school in Nowshera, Pakistan. The New York Times/Diego Ibarra Sanchez

In Pakistan, where I served as USIP’s national representative in 2014, we supported children’s media by using a 3D animated series called “Quaid Se Batein” (QSB), also known as “Talks with Jinnah,” which teaches kids civics. The three-minute episodes focused on Zainab, a young child who encounters difficulties including trash on the street, her father preventing her to play with a friend who is “different,” or being taught that girls can’t play cricket. While napping, Zainab has a dream encounter with Pakistan’s first president, Jinnah, who explains the need for change in these conventions. She gets out of bed and aids her friends in solving the issue. The most popular private television channel in Pakistan gave QSB a free prime time airing, and the video gained 14 million YouTube views.

Once I left USIP, I looked into QSB to verify our theories about how the cartoon would have an effect and endure until our money ran out. Today’s creators of children’s television media might benefit from what we discovered through interviews with influential media businesses trying to make effective children’s media, as well as with government representatives, educators, and students.

The Little Art creator Shoaib Iqbal, who curates the Lahore International Children’s Film Festival, stated, “I have a five-year-old.” And as soon as I try to educate her, she runs away.

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