ISLAMABAD: A new climate-resilient school, built by ‘Save the Children’ and recently handed over to the provincial education department, has been opened, according to a statement issued by the international aid organisation on 19-December-2024. The school replaces a building that was destroyed in the 2022 floods and is designed to withstand flooding, with high ceilings and increased ventilation to keep students cool during intense heatwaves, and with solar panels to provide sustainable, uninterrupted electricity.
Child Rights in Focus
MANSEHRA: Students of the government primary school in Jabori area here are attending classes in the open amid intense cold due to along delay in reconstruction. The five-room multi-storey building was destroyed in a fire in June last year, according to residents. “Even one year and a half after the fire incident, both girls and boys have to study in a miserable condition without proper facilities,” Abdul Wahid Khan told reporters on 20 December
LOWER DIR: Experts at a seminar stressed the importance of mothers regularly breastfeeding their newborns for at least two years, as breastfeeding protected them from various infectious diseases. The local health department in collaboration with the Unicef and World Food Programme organised a seminar for religious scholars, media persons and community leaders at Timergara the other day to create public awareness regarding the importance of breastfeeding. District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Mohammad Nisar, Unicef’s
KARACHI: A landlord has been arrested for sexually abusing a minor daughter of his tenant within the remits of Surjani Town police station. As per details, police registered a sexual abuse case against the landlord, Babil, on the complaint of the six-year-old victim’s father Muhammad Asadullah, who is a resident of Sector 50/C, Lyari, Taisar Town. He has four children – three daughters and a son. When Asadullah and his wife would go to
KARACHI: Preparations are underway in Sindh for the introduction of e-marking in the 2025 annual matriculation and intermediate exams. Both the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) and the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) have finalised plans to embrace this digital assessment method, which will be applied to the exams for the current academic year. The decision follows a training workshop on e-marking held last week at the Federal Board in Islamabad. Attendees
HYDERABAD: In an unspeakably horrific manifestation of human barbarity, an anger provoked mother allegedly took the lives of her twin sons, aged three years, in Shaheed Benazirabad district on December 18. “I first slit the throat of one son and then I took my other son to another room where I strangled him before slitting his throat as well,” mother, Komal Shaikh, confessed to the police besides disclosing the same to the media on
ISLAMABAD: The total number of registered religious madrassas across the country is 17,738, with 2,249,520 students enrolled, stated the Ministry of Education as it submitted details of religious seminaries to the Senate. Meanwhile, the Tax Laws Amendment Bill, presented earlier in the National Assembly, was also introduced on 19th December and referred to the Senate Finance Committee for further deliberation. The Senate session, chaired by Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, convened on Thursday morning during
DI KHAN: Condemning government statements claiming a plentiful supply of essential goods as “misleading”, educational institutions in the volatile tribal district of Kurram have decided to close from 20th December (today). They have also warned of launching a protest movement. “The government is trying to add to the people’s misery instead of protecting their lives and property. It seems intent on depriving people of food and medical care,” alleges Marjan Ali, the head of
Lahore: On 19 December, a Punjab cabinet meeting was presided over by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. The cabinet approved an amendment to Punjab Vagrancy Ordinance 1958, under which punishment for begging children has been increased from one to 10 years. She also directed to further expand the scope of rescue emergency services. Published in Dawn on 20th December 2024.
The eagerly-anticipated anti-polio campaign in Balochistan, now set to commence on December 30, has faced repeated delays due to a boycott by the Grand Health Alliance (GHA). Initially scheduled for December 16, the campaign was postponed twice, with an interim start date of December 18, before being rescheduled. Balochistan Emergency Operation Cell (EOC) Coordinator Inamul Haq underscored the campaign’s importance in combating the widespread presence of the poliovirus in the province, which has reported
LONDON: A UK court on Tuesday handed life sentences to the father and stepmother of a murdered 10-year-old British-Pakistani girl who died after being subjected to a prolonged “campaign of torture” and “despicable abuse”. Urfan Sharif, 43, and Beinash Batool, 30, will serve at least 40 and 33 years respectively for the killing of Sara Sharif, who had suffered years of horrific violence since the age of six. London’s Old Bailey court heard her
KARACHI: Pakistan’s first genetic molecular laboratory has been inaugurated with the cooperation of the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America (APPNA), an organisation of Pakistani-origin doctors based in the United States. The newly established lab, located on the campus of Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU), aims to diagnose physical and mental disabilities in premature babies and identify genetic defects in children and adults. Leading personalities, including APPNA President Dr Asif Mohiuddin, General Secretary