Abstract:
This research aimed to enhance emotional awareness and engender empathy among primary
school students in Pakistan through education, ultimately fostering emotional regulation and
preventing disruptive behaviors. While emotional intelligence (EI) is increasingly recognized
as a vital component in counter-terrorism efforts, it is seldom emphasized by young primary
school students. Research suggests that educational programs based on videos and cartoons
can help children retain information effectively over time. Therefore, an educational program
was designed around a video/animated cartoon series focusing on EI themes of developing
empathy and emotional awareness. This program included teaching aids, worksheets, and
activity-based learning. It was conducted using a mixed methods approach within a quasiexperimental
design in two primary schools in Pakistan’s Rawalpindi/Islamabad region. Preand
post-test assessments revealed that students initially lacked awareness of core EI concepts
and had limited prior knowledge of empathy. However, significant improvements were
observed in their post-test scores across all EI-related areas. The findings suggest that
incorporating EI training into school curricula could help nurture emotional resilience and
mitigate extremist tendencies among children in the future.
