LAHORE: Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat has said no school is being privatised. The minister said this while holding a meeting with columnists and analysts in which educational challenges faced by Punjab and possible measures were discussed. The minister talked about the reforms in the education sector and gave a briefing on the up-gradation of schools, TNA test, outsourcing and other issues. Rana Sikandar Hayat clarified that no school was being privatised and
Child Rights in Focus
LAHORE: Impact of this year’s smog will have devastating effects, particularly on children and pregnant women, says Unicef chief, reports Geo News. More than 11 million children under the age of five are exposed to toxic air as Punjab, especially Lahore, has been gripped by severe smog for the past few weeks. Unicef Representative in Pakistan Abdullah Fadil expressed concern over the health issues, saying the worse quality of air will affect young children
LAHORE: High blood pressure and diabetes during pregnancy are not only a cause of serious risks for pregnant women but also a threat to the health of babies. Because of these issues, the chance of miscarriage increases and if the blood glucose level exceeds the required limit, other complications may also arise like protein secretion in the urine and swelling of the body. This was stated by Ameeruddin Medical College Principal Prof Dr Muhammad
TOBA TEK SINGH: A nine-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by two youths in Chak 203 RB in Samundri, Faisalabad. The Mureedwala police registered a case under section 375-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). According to the FIR, the complainant claimed her daughter was lured by the two suspects to an outhouse belonging to a third accomplice. Police say after the assault, the alleged rape survivor was dropped near her home and the suspect
OKARA: A teenage girl was rescued after four weeks on 10th November and the penal section of rape was added to the already registered first information report of kidnapping. The Hujra Shah Muqeem police recovered the 15-year-old girl who was kidnapped on Oct 12 from Hujra Shah Muqeem Chowk. Her father had got a case registered against a named and two unidentified co-suspects. The police said that the girl after recovery stated that she
Despite govt banning child begging, Social Welfare Dept fails to rehabilitate minors forced into the trade Every child born into this world has a right to a safe home and a secure future, which under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is the state’s obligation to fulfil. However, the authorities in Sindh, neither have the time nor the eagerness to address the unfortunate children wasting their lives away on the roads. Despite the government
New fees, and development charges cause strong backlash from parents RAWALPINDI: Amid a severe financial crisis, the education boards have introduced a “heavy fee bomb” for students taking the 9th and 10th (matriculation) annual examinations in March 2025, causing a strong backlash from parents. The boards have also introduced development funds for students. The Boards Committee has released the fee schedule for the 2025 annual examinations. The certificate fee is now Rs1,000, the processing
Moonlighting as a girl, suspect would befriend boys on social media A major operation by the FIA Cyber Crime Circle in Dera Ismail Khan led to the arrest of a suspect who blackmailed minor children and their families by making indecent videos. The accused, named Muhammad Kashif Karim, was found to be making videos of minors and was involved in sexual exploitation. According to FIA officials, the action against the suspect was taken after
Despite no changes in the examination procedure, a large number of failing students have passed their second-year exam The surprising improvement in the passing ratio of the second-year pre-engineering and pre-medical exams held by the Karachi Higher Secondary Education Board has raised several eyebrows. The doubts in the veracity of the results have been fueled by the general perception that the Board may have relaxed its grading criteria to avoid facing criticism like last
TOBA TEK SINGH: Faisalabad’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cybercrime team raided D-Type Colony on Samundri Road on 9th November and arrested two persons for blackmailing a minor girl by sending her explicit photos. Suspects allegedly harassed the girl and took compromising photos, threatening to share them with her parents via WhatsApp. The FIA team seized two mobile phones from the suspects and registered a case under section 22 of the PECA 2016 and section
With the support of the Reform Support Unit Sindh and Unicef, the Thar Education Alliance is launching a Children’s Parliament to promote educational rights and bring out-of-school children back to school in Sindh. Children from 30 districts of Sindh will participate in this initiative. In the Children’s Parliament, two children will be selected from each of the 29 districts, while six students will be chosen from the Sajawal district due to its low literacy
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s fight against polio suffered another setback when one more child was paralysed by the virus in Dera Ismail Khan (DI Khan) district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The latest case brings the total number of Wild Poliovirus Type-1 (WPV1) cases to 48 in the country this year. The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad confirmed this latest case on Saturday, reporting infection in a boy