Mitigating Violent Behaviour in Primary School Children through Emotional Intelligence Video Literacy program

Abstract

Measures of Countering and Preventing Violent Extremism (C/PVE) utilize education and awareness programs to develop resilience against extremism in vulnerable communities. With a scarcity of research looking at violent and extremist tendencies in primary school children in Pakistan, this study aimed to look at the effects of emotional resilience education through the means of cartoon-based learning. Children have a limited attention span and research on video/cartoon-based literacy projects has indicated greater efficacy with more retention and engagement. The cartoon based on the theme of anti-bullying was used in a 6-week intervention program in an experimental design setup with 160 experimental and 40 control group students recruited from the Islamabad/Rawalpindi area (ages 9-11). The behaviours and awareness about the concepts of physical bullying, coercion and damaging others’ property, as well as qualitative information about the cartoon themes were assessed before and after the program for pre- and post-test comparison. The cartoon was accompanied with teaching aids, worksheets and activity-based learning. The results indicated that the students were not aware about bullying and its various types to begin with. As they became aware about bullying and physical/violent behaviour over the course of the program, they approached the topic with more enthusiasm and interest, while opening up about their experiences. The post-test scores implied more awareness and change in behaviour in the experimental group students with the parents and teachers reporting a marked difference in awareness about anti bullying. Results from this video literacy program will enable development of effective emotional resilience education courses to help create a more resilient society in the long run.