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…

Ghost Schools

KARACHI: Apropos the letter “Ghost Teachers” published on September 19, 2024, the…

Rethinking Health

There is something deeply tragic about how the world of numbers works. On paper, cutting off international aid to stimulate the local economy seems a plausible measure. But, in reality, the effects of such cuts are devastating and almost irreversible. At a time when the world should be celebrating continued…

Karachi’s Death Holes

THE lidless manholes in Karachi lay bare the failure of the city administration to provide even the bare necessities of daily living to residents. This week, a regular shopping trip left another family scarred for life. A manhole near Nipa in Gulshan-i-Iqbal swallowed their toddler, Ibrahim; his body was found…

Are the Children Safe?

Every morning, millions of children walk into schools across Pakistan with hopes, dreams and a desire to learn. Yet, behind these school walls, many face risks that threaten not only their education but their safety, dignity, and emotional well-being. Safeguarding our children in educational institutions is no longer just a…

HIV/AIDS Warning

EACH year, World AIDS Day arrives with new statistics but an old question: why is HIV/AIDS still a critical problem? Despite decades of interventions, glaring inequalities and complacency remain the primary reasons for the elevated numbers. UNAIDS says 40.8m people are living with HIV globally, 9.2m are not “accessing antiretroviral…

Ghost Commitments: Pakistan’s Child Rights Crisis

This year on Universal Children’s Day, as Pakistan prepares for its 2025 review by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, I’m forced to reflect on a 35-year-old promise. In 1990, Pakistan was one of the six initiators of the World Summit for Children, a champion for the…

Empowered Teachers

IN the developing world, teachers have a role that extends well beyond that of educators. The change that teachers bring about not only impacts their students’ academic attainment, it also has ripple effects on their students’ families in many ways. Education is a critical tool of social development and, as…

Schools or Brands

Private education has over the years steadily morphed into a profit-maximising business, overshadowing its core mission of learning and development. This shift has taken such precedence that many schools today consider themselves brands first and educational institutions second — complete with branded uniforms and study packs. It is this unchecked…

Rampant Drug Abuse

THE rising abuse of an anticonvulsant medication in the market is destroying the lives of the country’s youth. The drug, whose generic name is pregabalin and which is available under different brand names, decreases the number of pain signals that are sent out by damaged nerves in the body. Young…

Who Gets Educated?

Across Pakistan’s towns and cities, families wrestle with agonising choices each month: which bill to pay, which cost to delay and, increasingly, whether to keep paying school fees. After rent and food, little remains. For many households, that scarcity means deciding which child gets to stay in school. More often…

For the Children

WORLD Children’s Day is upon us, yet countless children are denied even simple rights that should never be in question. This year’s call to “listen to children and stand up for their rights” feels painfully apt. Millions of children wake up each day to fear and uncertainty. In conflict zones,…

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