By Umber Khairi
BBC Urdu Service
http://www.bbc.co.uk/

If you were in charge, what would you change in your country?

This was the question we put to around 100 young people in Pakistan. And the majority of these youngsters, aged between 12 and 18, listed improvements in education as their top priority.

Education was perceived as the key to eradicating poverty, ignorance and unemployment, and young people from all social classes thought that providing education to all children in Pakistan was important.

It was also seen as the key to improving the condition of women.

But some who listed education as a priority added that imposing an Islamic system was important.

These included not just students from less developed areas or in madrassa education, but also young school students in urban areas.

They particularly criticised the image and lifestyle projected via Westernised Pakistani and Indian TV channels.

Cheating

Meanwhile, students in urban areas listed road and traffic problems as a major concern, making their commute to schools and colleges difficult.

And some youngsters had very distinctive things on their agenda.

One 13-year-old from Karachi said the first change she would make would be to ban smoking in the whole country; another said that her first priority would be to spread awareness about the need to end cruelty to animals.

Young people from poor families who had left school and had to earn a living were the least able to articulate their views.

15-year-old Nabeel said he had been in a state school in Karachi, but the teachers were "awful", never bothered to teach them anything and cheated to get them through their exams.

He was full of regret at having dropped out of school, as education "would have made people respect me and opened up many employment opportunities".

Youngsters lower down the social ladder also listed rooting out corruption and reforming the police as a priority.

Girls from low-income families who were at school were surprisingly articulate and committed to the idea of educating women.

And many of the students in private schools spoke of the need to work for the country rather than go abroad to study or work.

When talking about the problems young people face, many spoke of educational pressures and expectations, others expressed concern about the unregulated use of the internet and young people visiting "bad sites" or communicating with strangers via the internet.

When asked what country could be a role model for Pakistan, quite a few cited China, while other countries mentioned were Iran, Saudi Arabia, Japan and England.

America was mentioned in negative terms. Some students said Pakistan was in danger of breaking up, because of the government's handling of the situation in Balochistan and the tribal areas.

However most youngsters did not regard the future of the country as completely bleak.