" Freelancer Ki Duniya Mein Anay Walay Bachay Na Umeed Hogaye Hain."
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00INTERPRETER 2 The speed of the internet has decreased.
00:04What impact has it had on your life, your work, and the lives of the students who are learning
00:10these skills through this platform?
00:15INTERPRETER 1 Thank you, Maria.
00:17We know that quality education is not available in the marginalized areas.
00:21And because of the internet, it is possible that we can remotely connect our expert trainers
00:26who are either out of the country or in the main cities of Pakistan.
00:29Because of the internet, we are facing a problem in the rural areas where we wanted to make
00:34quality education, especially IT education, accessible.
00:37And there are physical labs where children can be connected to the internet remotely.
00:41So, because of the slow internet, classes are not being held.
00:44If classes are being held, children are complaining that there is a problem with their voice.
00:47They are not understanding.
00:48So, these problems have been arising for the past one and a half weeks.
00:51And those children who were hoping for a better future, that we will go to IT and make our
00:55name, that we will also come into the world of freelancing,
00:57they are very disappointed that because of the internet, their education has stopped.
01:01So, how will they work in the future?
01:03INTERPRETER 2 How many children do you train?
01:05Roughly, how many people are directly affected by this?
01:11INTERPRETER 1 Yes.
01:12In our physical labs, there are approximately 250 students who come and study.
01:16In addition to this, we recently started a course in which there are about 1500 students
01:20who were online connected through their mobile laptops from different cities of Pakistan.
01:24And they had to start their classes on August 14th.
01:26So, there are approximately 1750 children who are impacted at this time.
01:30INTERPRETER 2 So, what are the problems arising?
01:31Is there an issue in connectivity?
01:32Are you not able to reach those who share the resources to learn?
01:37What are the precise issues arising?
01:38Because the government is saying that there is no problem.
01:40I feel that my national policy is to gaslight people and tell them that this is all in your
01:43mind.
01:44There is no such reality on the ground.
01:45So, I want to know what specific problems are arising for the students?
01:48Because you have a sample of 1500.
01:50There are more than 2000 students.
01:52There are many such operations in Pakistan.
01:54So, when you will tell them, they will have a representation.
01:56INTERPRETER 2 Yes, absolutely.
01:58We just got a video from the IT minister.
02:00And it is being said that there is only a voice issue on WhatsApp.
02:03Or there is only a video issue on Facebook.
02:05So, the rest of the internet is working fine.
02:07So, even if we believe that the rest of the internet is working fine,
02:10WhatsApp is a means by which most of the people in Pakistan are connected with each other.
02:14Nowadays, the trainings that are going on, the materials that we share,
02:17the assignments, the class discussions, are happening through WhatsApp,
02:20through videos, through voice notes, and through pictures.
02:23So, when you will not allow WhatsApp to be used for communication,
02:27you will control that as well.
02:29And when these problems arise, the students will not be able to access that information so quickly.
02:32Similarly, there was an ad campaign going on on our Facebook,
02:35in which we were giving messages to the students through the video
02:37that these free trainings are going on, and you can be a part of it.
02:39So, in the last few days, when the videos are not going on,
02:41and these problems are arising on Facebook,
02:43the students were not able to see our ad campaign.
02:45The campaign that was supposed to go on for three days,
02:48it did not go on.
02:49Because of the internet, the video issues that have arisen,
02:52the students were not able to use it.
02:54Apart from this, in Pakistan, most of the users,
02:57especially from the marginalized areas,
02:59do not have Wi-Fi available in their homes.
03:01They connect with their mobile data.
03:03So, all the Wi-Fi users, perhaps their internet is working better to some extent,
03:06but all the people connected to mobile data,
03:08first of all, they cannot connect to Facebook or WhatsApp without VPN.
03:11And even if they connect with VPN,
03:13the mobile data is not working so well.
03:16Things are taking so much time to load.
03:18So, because of this, the flow of information,
03:20if the students want to learn something,
03:22if they want to talk to their instructor,
03:24if they want to talk to anyone,
03:25even if they want to talk to their clients,
03:27with whom they are connected through all these platforms,
03:29they cannot do it.
03:30Now, in the government, and I have heard a lot of statements,
03:33there is a feeling that,
03:34okay, Fiber Upper is working well,
03:36you are connected to Wi-Fi there, there is no problem.
03:38So, they do not understand that,
03:39your client is also on Facebook,
03:41your client is also on Twitter,
03:42your client is also connected to you on WhatsApp.
03:44So, it is not that Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter,
03:46you use all these platforms only for entertainment.
03:49These platforms are also used in Pakistan for professional purposes.
03:52WhatsApp and Facebook are easy to use for the Pakistani audience,
03:55especially for the marginalized areas,
03:57because they may not know how to use Fiber so well,
04:00they may not know how to use Upper so well,
04:02but they can communicate well on WhatsApp,
04:04with local clients,
04:05with some international clients.
04:06So, when you close these communication channels,
04:09they will face all these problems.
04:10And for the last 3-4 days,
04:12whether the loss in learning,
04:14or the loss of their clients,
04:16which they could earn in 3-4 days,
04:18those things have stopped.
04:19So, who is responsible for that?
04:20At this time, if the bills of their houses will not be paid,
04:22if the expenses of their houses will not be paid,
04:23then I think,
04:24I do not understand who is responsible for that at this time.
04:26The government,
04:27the government understands that there is no such big problem.
04:28Mr. Irfan Malik,
04:29I will come to you.
04:30You tell me,
04:31because when I contact the government again and again,
04:32they say,
04:33there are national security issues,
04:34which we have to regulate the content.
04:36These are not such bad conditions,
04:38as you are telling.
04:40The representatives of PTA came,
04:42they came and told the Parliamentary Committee,
04:43that no one complained to us,
04:44that the internet is not working properly.
04:46So, why are you complaining?
04:47What is the problem in your internet?
04:48What are your activities,
04:49which are directly affected by this?
04:50And first of all,
04:51tell me,
04:52how many people do you employ in your platform?
04:54And how many people are being affected by this?
04:58Look,
04:59thank you very much,
05:00first of all.
05:01It is necessary to understand,
05:02what is happening?
05:03When they say,
05:04the internet is working properly,
05:05and there is no loss,
05:07this is not a loss of a few days.
05:09First,
05:10we have to understand that
05:11a very big revenue in our country,
05:12is coming from IT and freelancing.
05:14What is freelancing?
05:16When you talk about freelancing,
05:18you are giving your services to an international client,
05:21and the most important bond between you and the international client,
05:24is that of trust.
05:26That the client feels comfortable,
05:28in hiring people from our country,
05:30that they will be available all the time,
05:31and will give me quality services.
05:33Quality services were already a challenge for us.
05:35Now, availability has also become a challenge.
05:36And to build trust with a client,
05:38first, the child has to do a lot of courses,
05:39or degrees,
05:40has to do training.
05:42Then, after a lot of effort,
05:43a client comes to your Fiverr,
05:45and that client has to put in a lot of effort,
05:47day and night,
05:48for the delivery,
05:49and after that,
05:50that trust is built.
05:51I say,
05:52in a programmer's life,
05:53there are peaks of 4 years.
05:54If he spent 4 years,
05:55to build a client,
05:56and that client left,
05:57because of XYZ reasons,
05:58because it is not about WhatsApp,
05:59but it is about the ecosystem,
06:00then his 4-5 days are wasted.
06:02His many years are wasted.
06:03If 10 children are unemployed,
06:05then it is not necessary that
06:06they will stand on their own feet.
06:07Those who have the willpower will stand,
06:09but most people are like that,
06:10who may never be able to stand.
06:11So, the thing is,
06:12this thing that is going on,
06:13is creating an overall problem,
06:15and in that problem,
06:16this statement has added up.
06:17Whoever has given this statement,
06:18I have seen it in some channels,
06:19that nothing has happened.
06:20My people have sent me screenshots,
06:22that we told the client,
06:23that your work has been delayed,
06:24because there is an internet issue in our country,
06:26and that client,
06:27from that channel or news,
06:28took a screenshot and sent it to us.
06:30Now, we have lost our credibility,
06:32when the international media,
06:33is reporting something else.
06:35So, there is a small solution to this,
06:36which has no harm in doing,
06:38that the government can give a press release,
06:40can give a certificate,
06:41can do something,
06:42that what we are doing,
06:43when will it start,
06:44when will it be fine,
06:45so that every freelancer has a benchmark,
06:46to show it,
06:47to show,
06:48so that they can tell the client,
06:49that what is he doing.
06:50But now, no one knows,
06:51what is happening.
06:52I run a company of 150 people,
06:53and we communicate on WhatsApp,
06:54and on top of that,
06:55a lot of clients communicate on WhatsApp.
06:57Then there are further teams of those clients.
06:59Can we, overnight,
07:00remove the entire infrastructure from WhatsApp,
07:02and take it to some other channel,
07:03that we are only talking about WhatsApp.
07:04It is not only about WhatsApp,
07:05when you access Fiverr,
07:07and every person is accessing it,
07:08by installing a VPN,
07:09every person will install a VPN,
07:11so when VPN is used,
07:13you get lagged,
07:15if you change your IP,
07:16consistently,
07:17so this loss,
07:18has been damaged,
07:19for the next few years,
07:20overall,
07:21if you calculate,
07:22there has been a loss of 300 million,
07:24and 300 million,
07:25is just the tip of the iceberg,
07:26the firewall will get fixed,
07:28but the effects of this,
07:29will keep coming,
07:30it's not the end,
07:31it's the beginning.
07:32What effects will come,
07:33because generally,
07:34we want to know,
07:35as a regular user,
07:36we don't have a job,
07:37the lags we are seeing,
07:38the delays we are seeing,
07:39this is frustrating for us,
07:40but,
07:41what is the futuristic effect,
07:42what should we expect?
07:43I will explain it to you,
07:44the technology we have,
07:46from China,
07:47China has not made it overnight,
07:48or in a few days,
07:49or in a few weeks,
07:50it has been made in many years,
07:51in decades,
07:52we have brought a technology,
07:54any error of that technology,
07:56its implementation,
07:57its mismanagement,
07:58its straight impact,
07:59has come on the internet,
08:00when the internet came,
08:01and created an issue,
08:02the client and the user's trust,
08:03got disrupted,
08:04you tell me,
08:05the client who is bearing the loss,
08:06and is leaving,
08:07will he come back?
08:08he will never come back,
08:09and the child who will go
08:10to find a new client,
08:11will he be able to retain
08:12that client?
08:13every child will not be able to,
08:14and I ask a question,
08:15and I have this fear,
08:16as a technical person,
08:17I am sharing my apprehension,
08:18that who can say,
08:19that the mismanagement
08:20of the firewall,
08:21is happening now,
08:22and will not happen in the future,
08:23whenever this happens,
08:24trust will be broken,
08:25and our trust,
08:26as a nation,
08:27let me tell you first,
08:28in freelancing,
08:29because the untrained,
08:30new people,
08:31are injecting millions
08:32of dollars per month,
08:33our credibility
08:34is already at stake,
08:35the credibility
08:36that is at stake,
08:37the credibility
08:38that was at stake,
08:39now the competent people
08:40who have retained
08:41the client,
08:42have also been flagged,
08:43they have also lost
08:44their trust,
08:45so you tell me,
08:46this is a recurrent issue,
08:47I don't think
08:48this is a one time issue,
08:49this is a recurrent issue,
08:50if this happens again and again,
08:51it will have an impact
08:52for many years,