The true nature of learning ‘anything’ in Pakistan is far grim, let alone the modern education standards. As a matter of fact, the overall learning attitude is nothing short of a horror story. People seem to be in a continual denial of the reality and let their children waste their time in their most prime time of learning in this time and age. In reality, the bitterness of pessimism might cater to the current
Child Rights in Focus
“Child Marriage in Punjab: A Political Economy Analysis and Policy Options,” provides a comprehensive analysis of the factors contributing to child marriage in Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province. The study was conducted by the Population Council and commissioned by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as part of a broader effort to understand and address child marriage in Pakistan. Read Child Marriage in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: A Political Economy Analysis and Policy Options
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Education Rana Tanveer Hussain on 23 May 2023 reiterated his claim that by June 30 all 52,000 out-of-school children (OOSC) in the capital city will be enrolled in schools while two educational institutions will be upgraded. He also said field control centres had been established by the ministry in collaboration with non governmental organisations (NGOs) to monitor progress of the campaign. In the past too, several attempts were made to bring
Gilgit: In a significant move, a sub-jail building in Chilas has been transformed into a school exclusively for girls, while the under-construction Commissioner House in Diamer is being repurposed into a women’s hostel reported by Daily Dawn on May 22, 2023. According to Altamash Janjua, the Commissioner of Diamer, the sub-jail building, previously under the supervision of GB Scouts, has now been converted into a school catering to 200 girls. The building is currently
Islamabad: Despite the lack of progress in introducing an education policy since 2009, the education ministry has commenced efforts to finalize a policy framework. The ministry acknowledges that education is a devolved subject, preventing the formulation of a national education policy. However, it can develop a national education policy framework. “We are currently in the process of finalizing the national education policy framework, which will be presented for approval at the upcoming Inter-Provincial Education
Watching the news recently, I heard the IG of Punjab Police berating women for having the audacity to be out protesting in public. He used the damning word ‘modern’ to describe them. Society fears disruptors — those elements, sometimes individuals or groups or even political parties, that throw away the rulebook and attempt a paradigm shift away from current accepted attitudes and practices. In many polities, both extremes exist side by side — conservatives
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is a non-profit organization in Pakistan that works to promote and protect human rights in the country. The State of Human Rights Report is one of their flagship publications, released annually. The 2022 report provides an overview of the human rights situation in Pakistan, highlighting both progress and challenges in various areas in different provinces of Pakistan. It covers a wide range of issues such as civil
Nadra, the National Database and Registration Authority, has created the National Sex Offenders Registry (NSOR) platform, which includes an SMS verification service to aid in the identification and monitoring of individuals who have been convicted of sexual offenses against children and women . The database is connected to various law enforcement agencies and provincial governments to ensure that updates are made in real-time. The goal of this initiative is to prevent sexual violence and
In many regressive societies, the term ‘child bride’ calls to mind the unsavoury practice of marrying a child, even a preteen, to someone much, much older. This is true for South Asian countries, including Pakistan and Afghanistan, carrying the highest burden of child marriage in the world. Recent Unicef estimates reveal a harrowing number of 290 million child brides in the region, which represents 45% of all child marriages globally. Marriage is supposed to
In 2022, Pakistan was hit by a devastating flood that broke a century-old record, resulting in a humanitarian emergency that has affected the lives of over 33 million people, including 16 million children. To assess the impact of the floods on the nutritional practices and needs of infants, young children, and pregnant women, UNICEF and the MoNHSR&C commissioned IPSOS to conduct a rapid care and feeding assessment in the 15 most affected districts across
ACCORDING to media reports, initial figures generated by the ongoing census put the country’s population at 235 million, a whopping increase of 27 million or 12.98 per cent since 2017. And there is already a hue and cry over the official data being supposedly well below the actual numbers. By the time the final count is announced, we may have an astounding shock to deal with. Being a practising doctor and someone who has
According to UNICEF, child marriages are on the decline, but not so much that they could be abolished for another 300 years, while a perfect storm of crises could still reverse the trend. “We have definitely made progress in abolishing the practise of child marriage, especially in the last 10 years. Unfortunately, this progress has not been sufficient,” Claudia Cappa, lead author of the Unicef report released recently, told AFP. According to Unicef estimates,