A video clip of children singing has circulated with allegations that students in the Mardan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are being forced to sing political songs of the ruling party in the province instead of Pakistan’s national anthem.
The claim is misleading. The video is old and not new.
Assertion
On January 15, a user on X (formerly Twitter) shared a one-minute video of children singing a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) campaign song. The user claimed that the children were told to sing the song instead of the national anthem at a school in Mardan.
The post reads: “In a school in Mardan, instead of the national anthem, children are asked to sing PTI’s anthem.” The post has been viewed over 10,000 times, republished over 280 times and liked more than 467 times.
The same video was shared by another user alleging that since the PTI came to power in the province after the 2024 elections, students have been forced to sing the PTI anthem instead of Pakistan’s national anthem.
The user further stated, “In this way the new generation mind of Pakistan is being brainwashed”.
Fact
The video in question is not recent. It was filmed in 2018, long before PTI’s recent election victory in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the district education officer in Mardan and media reports confirm this.
Zahid Muhammad, District Education Officer of Mardan informed Geofact check that the video was recorded six years ago. He further clarified that no such incident has happened recently.
He said, “I have been working here for the last two years and there has been no such incident recently. The video dates back to 2018 when a child sang the PTI anthem at an event such as a parent-teacher day. After that the teacher, headmaster and assistant sub-divisional education officer who were present at the event were suspended by the PTI government at that time.”
Geofact check also found a news report from November 2018 which confirms that the PTI government took notice of the incident. The news report describes how children were forced to sing political songs, which brought swift punishment to the responsible parties.
Verdict: The video of children singing the PTI song was filmed in 2018. After the video circulated, authorities took disciplinary action and suspended the teachers involved. The claim that this incident happened recently under PTI’s current leadership in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is false.
