perspective-child rights

Insights From the 2023 Census Report

The 2023 Census conducted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics released its complete report in July 2024 indicates that the total population of Pakistan is 240 million out of which the population of children under 18 is 112 Million (47% of the total population). Children Population (under 18) Population under 18 Total Male Female Transgender Pakistan 112,472,700 58,099,978 54,370,121 2,601…

The Case for Teaching Punjabi in Schools

THE chief minister of Punjab, Ms Maryam Nawaz, has said that Punjabi will be taught across schools in the province. This was announced at the Punjab Culture Day ceremony last week. It is a welcome announcement. Some 80 million people speak Punjabi in Pakistan and, worldwide, Punjabi speakers number around…

The Role of Parents in Shaping Pakistan’s Education Future

PAKISTAN’S education system faces significant challenges on two fronts. Firstly, there is…

How many more children will we sacrifice?

Nazir left home in a fury to locate his 12-year-old son, Shaheer,…

From Disaster To Despair

Each monsoon in Pakistan heralds less a renewal of life and more a rehearsal for ruin. The 2025 floods, which swept through the vast industrial triangle of Sialkot, Gujrat and Gujranwala and their adjoining areas, were neither the first calamity nor will they be the last. What has lingered long…

‘Prevent a Lifetime of Suffering’

The world’s leading researchers, clinicians, survivors, and health advocates gathered in Bangkok for the 37th International Papillomavirus Society (IPVS) Conference, a pivotal meeting themed ‘Research Toward the Global Elimination of HPV-related Diseases and Cancers’. Held on October 23-26, against the dazzling backdrop of Thailand’s capital, the conference became more than…

Deluge to Dengue

Monsoons bring rain, which in turn bring floods and stagnant water. This in turn leads to lots of mosquitoes and the mosquitoes bring disease. This is about as close to an iron rule as one can get in Pakistan: monsoon season brings dengue and malaria season. This is particularly true…

HIV/AIDS Shock

OVER the past two decades, Pakistan has faced several HIV eruptions and the ignominy of ranking second among nations with the sharpest rise in HIV cases in the Asia-Pacific region. Sadly, not even the scale of the crisis has spurred the government into action. The Sindh health minister has been…

Climate Change is a Security Threat

The world treats defence as an existential priority – and rightly so, because lapses in readiness can trigger cascading crises. Climate change now carries the same gravity for vulnerable regions like Pakistan and whole of South Asia. It shuts factories during heatwaves, collapses bridges in flood season, pushes food and…

Education in an age of AI

In an age where generative artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming industries, the education systems of most developing countries remain trapped in an outdated, industrial-age framework. The model still in use today was designed over two centuries ago, during the Industrial Revolution, to produce compliant workers – clerks, factory labourers and…

Why Polio Endures

Last week, Pakistan’s polio tally for 2025 went up to 30. The latest case was recorded in district Torghar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where over half (19) of this year’s polio cases have come from. While the tally for this year is still much lower than the 74 cases recorded last…

Teaching as Profession

SHEHLA completed her Master’s degree in economics last year and started teaching at a private school in her neighbourhood. She feels she will not be staying in the job for long. Her salary is only Rs20,000 per month. She thinks she will be married soon and might not work afterwards.…

Polio-free Promise

FOR more than three decades, Pakistan has fought poliovirus with collective determination, reducing cases by 99.6 per cent. Despite concerted efforts, poliovirus has survived in two countries, posing persistent risk to the health and lives of vulnerable children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. As we commemorate World Polio Day 2025, Pakistan…

Smog Season

AS temperatures begin to drop, smog makes an unwelcome arrival in many parts of the country, particularly Lahore and urban Punjab. This health and climate crisis has been brewing for some years, while the state — nudged on by civil society and experts — has begun to take steps to combat the…

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