perspective-child rights - Page 21

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…

What Mpox Means For Our Children

The modern world is getting increasingly smaller and interconnected. Whether a newsbreak or a viral outbreak, it travels across continents in the blink of an eye. Just as we were beginning to breathe easier after Covid-19, another virus has silently made its way across our border and made its presence felt. Mpox,…

Child Rights Crisis

As the planet bakes in the hottest summer ever, with each passing month warmer than the last, the climate crisis is depriving children of some of their basic human rights and reducing opportunities for them to secure and live a decent life. Extreme weather events linked to climate change disproportionately…

Babies Galore

OURS is a society where parents start planning their daughter’s marriage soon after she is born. Here the social compulsion for couples to prove their fertility is so great that they have their first child within a year or so after tying the knot. Worse still, women are desperate to…

Conference of Parties (COP) in Pakistan

As the climate crisis continues to escalate, the pressure to implement sectoral policies will also increase. It is often said that climate change is multi-sectoral therefore making it difficult to implement policies after the 18th Amendment. However, beyond that, no mention is made of how to bridge the gap between…

Climate-driven Child Marriages

The prevalence of child marriages in certain parts of Pakistan, as exemplified by the recent reports of 45 underage girls being married off in Khan Muhammad Mallah village of Dadu in Sindh province, is utterly unacceptable. The directive issued by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to launch a thorough investigation…

Malnourished Future

Almost half of the children in Pakistan experience stunted growth, while nearly a third are underweight and suffer from wasting. The long-term consequences of these issues for the future of the country are significant. In Sindh, infant and young child feeding practices are inadequate, with approximately 98 percent of children…

Skills and Success

Someweeks ago, the Federal Directorate of Education and Professional Training organised a wonderful summer fiesta for schoolchildren, with a wide range of skill-based workshops, seminars, lectures and activities. This kind of immersive experience with creative writing, financial literacy, digital technology, and so forth, is the urgent need for students who…

MDCAT: A False Hope On The Horizon

The costs of depriving meritorious individuals of entry into the healthcare system manifest as healthcare breakdowns. Though the announcements of academic opportunities and exams in a transparent socioeconomic and political setting might elicit excitement among prospective aspirants, the same in our part of the world ignites cascades of desperation and…

When Education Meets Land Grab

Imagine this: A bully enters a man’s dwelling and forces him to sign over ownership of a large piece of his land at gunpoint. To lend this theft the thinnest air of legitimacy, the bully throws the landowner a bone and puts a sale price on the papers that is…

What Next After Enrolment?

Twenty-six million. This figure has been doing the rounds in print and digital media for quite some time now. This is the total number of out-of-school children and adolescents (OOSCA) in Pakistan, the second highest in the world, according to the Pakistan Education Statistics. This number is 39 percent of…