Sindh Minister for Education and Mineral Development Syed Sardar Ali Shah said on September 10 that due to the country’s rapidly growing population, resolving issues within the available resources is becoming an increasing challenge. He highlighted that every year 1.2 million children are born in Sindh, but the public education system can provide schooling to only 250,000 to 300,000 children annually. He stressed that through partnerships with the private sector, many challenges can be
Child Rights in Focus
PHOOLNAGAR: A four-year-old child went missing from Saharan Kay village on September 10. Ismail left his home around 7am to buy items from a nearby shop, but never returned. His parents made desperate attempts to trace him in the neighbourhood, but were unable to find any clue to his whereabouts. Fearing that the child may have been abducted, Ismail’s father Asif got a case registered at Sadr police station. The police said a search
Islamabad: The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Nutrition International partnered for pilot project – ‘Effectiveness of Adolescent Nutrition Conditional Cash Transfer”, aimed at addressing anaemia among adolescent girls aged 13 to 19. The 2023-25 pilot project has reached more than 100,000 adolescent girls with Weekly Iron Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFAS), complemented with nutrition education and quarterly conditional cash transfer (CCT) to their parents. The pilot project implemented in six districts achieved high coverage
Rawalpindi: The dengue spread in Rawalpindi district has started taking shape of an outbreak as in the last 24 hours, another 20 individuals have tested positive for the infection that is the highest number of dengue cases reported in a day from the district this year so far. Data collected by ‘The News’ on September 10 has revealed that the confirmation of another 20 patients positive for dengue fever has taken the total number
PESHAWAR: Chairman of Frontier Foundation, Sahibzada Muhammad Haleem, has said that a lack of awareness about genetic diseases, delayed and limited access to screening and treatment, and the high rate of consanguineous marriages significantly increase the risk of thalassemia and other hereditary disorders. He said that eliminating thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder, was their mission to protect future generations, said a press release. Speaking during a meeting with parents of children suffering from thalassemia,
Punjab has begun formulating its long-term Forest Vision 2050, aiming to prioritise forest conservation and ecological balance rather than treating forests solely as a source of timber. The initiative seeks to make forests a central pillar in tackling climate change and strengthening ecological resilience. To draft this vision, the Punjab Forest Department has partnered with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which organised a two-day planning workshop in Lahore. The event brought
WE in South Asia are the children of the monsoon, as described by David Jiménez in his 2008 book. While governments may not always recognise it, we are bound by an ecosystem that inextricably links our resilience through shared climate realities from one end of South Asia to the other. Shared ecosystems 1) Rivers: The Indus River system serves as a central artery for India and Pakistan, comprising six major tributaries: eastern (Beas, Ravi, Sutlej) and western
HYDERABAD: Torrential monsoon rains lashed Hyderabad and several other districts across Sindh on September 8 and 9, bringing life to a standstill in many areas due to urban flooding, prolonged power outages, and damaged infrastructure. While Hyderabad bore the brunt of the downpour, conflicting rainfall data from local authorities and the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has raised questions regarding reporting accuracy. According to figures released by local authorities, Latifabad taluka received a staggering 280mm
A US citizen of Pakistani origin has approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking help to trace her husband and two minor children, who were allegedly brought to Pakistan instead of being taken for Umrah. The petitioner, Ghulam Ghausia Akhunzada, told the court that she married Taxila resident Muhammad Owais Tariq in January 2014. After their marriage, Tariq settled in the United States, where the couple had two sons — Arham, 8, and Haider,
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced the enforcement of climate and agriculture emergencies across Pakistan in response to heavy monsoon rains and widespread flooding that have devastated the country. The decision was approved during a federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad on 10 September . Shehbaz warned that recent monsoon rains and floods had caused widespread destruction, killing over 900 people, displacing thousands and submerging vast tracts of farmland. Addressing the cabinet, he said assessments
Karachi was lashed by heavy downpours as the second wave of monsoon rains hit the city, with Surjani Town receiving the highest rainfall at 129.8mm over the past 24 hours. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), Gulshan-e-Maymar (Jamia Rasheed) recorded 93.1mm, DHA Phase VII 90mm, and North Karachi 72.2mm. Other areas also saw significant showers, including Gulshan-e-Hadeed (69mm), Nazimabad (54mm), Korangi (55mm), Orangi Town (47.2mm), Saadi Town (55.1mm), Kemari (52.2mm), Jinnah Terminal (53mm),
CHAKDARRA: Police arrested two teenage boys for their alleged involvement in the brutal murder of a seven-year-old child in Badwan here, officials said on 09 September. District Police Officer (DPO) Abdul Salam Khalid said the child, identified as Aafnan, went missing from Toro Gato village and was later found dead in a nearby hilly area. A special investigation team was formed to probe the case, he said adding the DNA samples were sent to