Education, Political Awareness, and Political Participation: a Case of Rahim Yar Khan District of Pakistan

By acknowledging the quality of individuals as an important parameter for the socio-economic and political development of a society, this study has attempted to examine the quality of political choices made by the resident of the massively uneducated district Rahim Yar Khan in Punjab province of Pakistan. The persistence of an inefficient and fruitless political status quo of few influential political families and the existence of a massive uneducated population cast doubts over the quality of political choices made by the residents of Rahim Yar Khan. By centralizing analysis around education, this study assessed political awareness and the extent to which individuals are willing to participate in the political process. A total of 404 respondents with varying educational levels from 42 union councils, systematically selected from the whole district, were examined. The findings of this study revealed a shockingly poor state of political awareness and higher willingness of political participation for the individuals with no and lower level of education. This poor awareness then explains the persistence of the inefficient political status quo of few families without any value and hence causing chronic damage to political as well as socio-economic profile of Rahim Yar Khan.