Despite significant progress, Pakistan lags in achieving SDG target 4.1. UNICEF reports that Pakistan has the second-highest proportion of out-of-school children globally. Millions of children are denied access to basic education in Pakistan each year. An estimated 25.1 million Pakistani children are out of school (Pakistan Education Statistics, 2023-24). While large numbers never enroll in schools, the daunting threat is that many of those who are enrolled may drop out without completing primary/secondary school.
Child Rights in Focus
KARACHI: The body of a 12-year-old boy, who went missing after falling into a water pipeline two days ago, was recovered from the Saadi Town area on the morning of April 26, Rescue 1122 reported. According to a spokesperson for Rescue 1122, the victim, identified as Zahid, fell into the water line in Sachal Ghazi Goth on Friday. A rescue operation had been underway for two days before the body was finally located and
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan began World Immunisation Week 2026 commemorations with renewed commitment to protect every child through vaccination. Every year, the Federal Directorate of Immunisation (FDI), under the leadership of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, in collaboration with provincial/area EPIs and partners, observes immunisation week across Pakistan in the last week of April. The week highlights the significant role of vaccines in protecting lives from vaccine-preventable diseases. This year’s theme, “For
ISLAMABAD: Citizens can now access district-level birth and death records and file right to information requests online through a verified login, as the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) on April 24 unveiled a new digital platform in a major step towards modernising its website. The new portal, https://www.nadra.gov.pk, replaces a text-heavy site that users and digital rights groups had criticised as outdated and hard to navigate. Nadra, which holds biometric data for over
LAHORE: A woman, accused of killing her three children a day earlier, was handed over to police custody on a five-day physical remand on April 24. On Thursday, the police claimed that three children who were found murdered at their house near Lahore’s Shah Jamal Colony were killed by their mother over estrangement with her husband. The investigating officer presented the accused before Judicial Magistrate Irshad Hussain on Friday and sought a 14-day physical remand so
KARACHI: Until two years ago, Gul-e-Haya was a quiet child. Born with a congenital amputation — her right forearm never developed — she rarely mingled with other children at home or in her class at a small private school in Hyderabad. Her father, 35-year-old Syed Waqas, hoped that she would become more expressive as she grew older. But Gul-e-Haya’s performance at school suggested the opposite, as she retreated into a shell. Even if he
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has upheld a conditional remand order in a family dispute, ruling that a father seeking to reopen ex parte proceedings cannot avoid paying maintenance — particularly to a minor child — during fresh trial proceedings. Justice Raheel Kamran dismissed a petition filed by Faizan Kareem, who had challenged a Dec 18, 2025 order passed by an appellate court (additional district and sessions judge) in Ahmadpur East. The appellate court
MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) cabinet on April 23 approved a more than Rs3.7 billion package for school and college education, alongside a series of wide-ranging decisions covering employee regularisation, institutional reforms and legislative amendments. Meeting under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, the cabinet also extended the tenure of ad-hoc, temporary and contract employees by six months and approved their partial regularisation under the Regularisation of Ad hoc and
RAWALPINDI: A pair of siblings, a 9-year-old boy and 17-year-old girl, went missing under mysterious circumstances from the Lailyani Rajgan area of Gujar Khan police station, Rawalpindi. The children have been missing for three days. The police have registered a case of child abduction and started an investigation. The father of the children, Yasir Nadeem, had registered a case with the police on April 20. He stated in his complaint that his daughter, M,
MIRPURKHAS: HYDERABAD The multi-billion-rupee corruption scandal at the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Mirpurkhas, appears to be engulfing more officials as the Anti-Corruption Establishment widens the scope of its investigation. The ACE Mirpurkhas has summoned five officials – including a deputy secretary of the Sindh Universities and Boards Department and three former chairmen – to record their statements on April 24. The department’s secretary has also been asked to furnish detailed records
MANSEHRA: The Upper Kohistan district administration, the other day, laid the foundation stone of two relocated schools falling within the reservoir area of the Dasu Hydropower Project (DHPP). “These educational institutions are being built under the Local Area Development Programme initiated by DHPP to provide quality education and foster socioeconomic development of local communities,” Azizullah Jan, deputy commissioner of Upper Kohistan, told the groundbreaking ceremony of the schools held in the Seo area of
LARKANA: A five-year-old boy has died from measles in a village near Naudero, bringing the total number of measles-related deaths in the area to three within just three days. The deceased, Ali Abbas, son of Noor Muhammad Soomro, was a resident of Nau Gath on the outskirts of Naudero. The child’s death has plunged the household into deep mourning. Speaking to reporters, the bereaved father, Noor Muhammad Soomro, explained that a few days earlier,