perspective-child rights - Page 19

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 Age Of Consent And The Borders Of Belief

ICT Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2025 marks a pivotal step toward a safer, progressive Pakistan KARACHI. Child rights organisations and advocates, along with concerned citizens, have warmly welcomed the passage of recent legislation on child marriages, describing it as a landmark step toward protecting the rights and well-being of children.…

The Case for Teaching Punjabi in Schools

THE chief minister of Punjab, Ms Maryam Nawaz, has said that Punjabi…

Ghost Schools

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

Reforming Seminaries

Religious schools, or madrasas, have been integral to the cultural and educational landscape of the subcontinent and the broader Muslim world for centuries. At the time of the independence, around 250 madrasas existed in Pakistan. Since then, these religious institutions have experienced exponential growth, with tens of thousands of them…

Transport For Schooling

A JUDGE at the Lahore High Court recently ordered that schools should arrange for and organise transport for schoolchildren by the end of the winter break. The order came in the hearings on the case about smog in Lahore. The use of public transport for schooling is expected to reduce vehicular traffic…

Smog and Schooling

WHETHER schools are open or closed, it is not going to have much of an impact on smog levels across Punjab. The decision about closing schools has more to do with some notion that children will be less exposed to the smog if they stay at home than if they…

Water, Sanitation A Dream For Public School Students

LAHORE. Despite a billion-rupee budget, schools across the province have no clean bathrooms or drinking water available for students For students spending nearly six to seven hours away from home each day, the school premises become almost like a second home. Yet for the hapless students stuck in public schools,…

Importance of Classroom

The child learning in the classroom is a subject of great importance. While some argue that traditional classroom settings are outdated and ineffective, others firmly believe that they remain primary for a child’s intellectual, social, and emotional development. Let’s examine how. One of the primary advantages of child learning in…

Mothers In Prison

INCARCERATED mothers constitute a rapidly increasing segment of the prison population in Punjab. According to data released by Punjab Prisons, as of last month, the total number of female prisoners stood at 1,218. Of these, 137 are mothers with children and 104 are under trial. The total number of children…

Mastung Bombing

INSTABILITY continues to haunt Balochistan, as Friday morning’s bombing in Mastung has shown. At least nine fatalities have been confirmed — mostly children — while at the time of writing no group had claimed responsibility for this atrocity. Considering Balochistan’s complex vortex of violence, both separatist militants or religiously inspired…

Take School To The Child

PAKISTAN is in the midst of a critical education crisis, with over 22.8 million children aged five to 16 years out of school, placing it second only to Nigeria in this context. The situation is especially dire for girls, with 53 percent out of school as compared to 43pc of…

Ghost Employees

The Sindh government has stopped the salaries of almost 1,400 absent teachers, and other employees in the education department. Such employees are referred to as ghost employees – a euphemism for the absentees. The issue is chronic in the province’s education department, in particular. According to the District Education Performance…

Teachers’ Needs

AT the launching ceremony of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) project to be implemented in Sindh a couple of years ago, I asked the then leader of the initiative whether they had conducted any assessment of teachers’ needs. His response was typical: “We know their needs.” This has been a…