88% students willing to volunteer for antivirus efforts in Pakistan

22.1% said people not practicing any kind of social distance and precautionary measures

ISLAMABAD: Over 88 per cent of students in a survey said they were willing to volunteer as frontline workers in the fight against coronavirus (Covid-19).

Inter-University Consortium for Promotion of Social Sciences (IUCPSS), the largest network of Pakistani universities, conducted an online survey regarding awareness about COVID-19 among students in which 1176 students participated across Pakistan.

Among the participants, 55.4 per cent were from urban and 44.6 per cent were from rural areas, said Media Coordinator of Consortium Murtaza Noor on Wednesday.

He said while answering a query over practicing social distancing and other precautionary measures suggested by authorities, almost 31.7 per cent replied positively while 46.2 per cent had a view that to some extent people in their respective areas were taking this pandemic seriously.

On the other hand, 22.1 per cent stated that people were not practicing any kind of social distance and precautionary measures.

Responding to the primary source of information of  COVID-19, almost 68.7 per cent replied that social media was the primary source of information, 39.2 per cent electronic media; 27.7 per cent government awareness campaign; 24 per cent family friends and community; 8.9 per cent print media;11.8 per cent social activities while 11.2 per cent were getting information through student societies.

Almost 88.8 per cent of students were passionate to work as a volunteer in the fight against COVID-19 while 11.2 per cent were not willing to work as a volunteer.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2020.