This will have a profound impact on long-term outcomes It is not just flooding or other disasters that are taking a toll on our schoolchildren. Increasing extreme weather events are making school a dangerous place to be for several weeks out of the year. The searing classrooms of Lahore and many other parts of Punjab feel like brick kilns during May’s heatwave, with news reports describing children fainting and getting nose bleeds due to
Child Rights in Focus
IDIOMS and proverbs are said to be a reflection of society, and they provide valuable insight into the shared wisdom and ways of thinking in a particular culture. Let’s take a look at two sayings from two different cultures on the topic of play and sports to try and understand collective norms and social dynamics. We have all heard the phrase in Urdu, ‘padhoge likhoge banoge nawab; kheloge koodoge toh hoge kharaab’. A loose
RAWALPINDI: A woman was fighting for her life in the emergency of the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) after her three children died apparently due to food poisoning. However, the police have launched an investigation to ascertain the real circumstances in which the tragic incident happened in the limits of Banni police, where Ms Zunaira, 23, and her husband, a sanitation worker, Salam Masih, 25 were residing with their three children. Zunaira Bibi said in
LAHORE: Civil society organisations, academic institutions and the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) called on the Punjab government to adopt a comprehensive and sustainable child labour eradication strategy to uphold children’s rights and protect them from economic exploitation. This call to action was made during the Provincial Policy Dialogue on “Child Labour in Punjab: Challenges, Gaps, and the Path Forward”, at Forman Christian College University. Iftikhar Mubarik, executive director of Search for Justice,
LAHORE: A woman killed her husband and 16-year-old niece with a sharp-edged weapon in Baghbanpura area, suspecting them of having an illicit relationship. The Dolphin Squad responded to a 15 emergency call and arrested the suspect, identified as Zeenat, along with the murder weapon at the scene. According to police, the incident occurred due to domestic discord when Zeenat attacked 16-year-old Shazia (her niece) and 50-year-old Shaukat (her husband) with a sharp weapon, killing
In a disturbing incident of domestic abuse, a 17-year-old, also the mother of a minor baby girl, was murdered in Karachi’s Afghan Basti allegedly by her own family members. The incident took place near Afghan Chowk within the limits of the Gulshan-e-Maymar police station. Acting swiftly on a tip-off, police intervened just in time to stop a secret burial, arresting the girl’s father at the scene, while her husband and other suspects fled and
QUETTA: A joint consultative meeting of stakeholders—including members of civil society, human rights activists, and social and political workers —revived efforts to pass the pending Child Marriage Restraint Bill in the Balochistan Assembly. The meeting was jointly organised by National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) Balochistan, the Social Welfare Department, Unicef and other partners. Advocate Abdul Hayee, NCRC member from Balochistan, along with representatives from Unicef, UNFPA and civil society attended
Classrooms are often overcrowded and lack basic cooling, heating or ventilation systems LAHORE: Pakistan’s children are losing weeks of education each year to school closures caused by climate change-linked extreme weather, prompting calls for a radical rethink of learning schedules. Searing heat, toxic smog and unusual cold snaps have all caused closures that are meant to spare children the health risks of learning in classrooms that are often overcrowded and lack basic cooling, heating
LARKANA: Stating that every second child in Sindh is stunted, health experts have called for coordinated efforts to address the issue of malnutrition’s impact on the generations to come. Drawn from different institutions, they were sharing their views at the ‘National Conference Tackling Malnutrition in Sindh’ held under the auspices of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU) under the sponsorship of the Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) at Chandka Medical College (CMC) the other
BAHAWALPUR: An additional sessions court sentenced a doctor to rigorous life imprisonment and a fine of Rs100,000 for attempting to rape a minor girl. According to the prosecution, accused Dr Muhammad Kamran Khan tried to rape a 10-year-old girl in his clinic in Gol Plot in the limits of Mumtazabad police station, Multan in 2024. Hearing the screams of the victim, area people gathered at the scene. Mumtazabad police arrested Dr Kamran and registered
Over 250 engineers from NUST and the Institute of Space Technology are teaching in primary and middle schools across Islamabad — and it’s making a real impact. Kids are more excited, more curious, and more motivated to learn. This is the kind of innovation we need in classrooms everywhere.” — Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani, Federal Secretary, Inter-provincial Coordination Division, (Outgoing Federal Secretary for Education).
In this highly informative video podcast, we have brought together Shafia Rafique, Principal of Littlefellows Daycare and Elementary School, and Khadija, an educationist, CEO of Pakistan Alliance for Early Childhood, and a mentor. As experts in the field of Early Childhood Development (ECD) and parenting, they engage in a dynamic discussion addressing the most common questions related to parenting and education. Shafia and Khadija tackle pressing concerns such as why we struggle to raise