JPN engages youth in positive activities amid lockdown through social media.

MULTAN -- Justice and Peace Network (JPN), a non-governmental organization, engaged about 1600 students of Bahauddin Zakariya University to develop critical thinking, leadership skills and promote peace building activities for social cohesion and cultural harmony through social media.

A special page was created on social media wherein students were given opportunity to express their constructive ideas which could help promote tolerance, peace, leadership skills and critical thinking, said Project Manager JPN Ms Faiza.

Talking to reporter, she stated it is for the first time in the history of Pakistan that the country is facing a pandemic.

With no prior experience of dealing with such situations, Pakistan swiftly responded to the World Health Organization call by following guidelines. The first case of coronavirus was reported on February 26 and on March 13, the government closed all educational institutions including schools, colleges, and universities, and vacated the student's hostels in just one day.

This sudden shut-down, she said, not only put the stop to ongoing endemic activities but also minimize the chances of equal learning opportunities for all students of giving a competitive advantage to urban areas student over the rural area due to uneven virtual access to the online education.

Students are now having plenty of time with fewer educational activities at home, she said adding this abundantly free time also increased youth's usage of social media and also put a risk on them in exposure to hate speech, negative activities, and extremist opinions.

Justice and Peace Network (JPN), realizing all these potential threats, established a Facebook group for the...