ISLAMABAD: Three Pakistani schools have been named among the Top 10 finalists for the World’s Best School Prizes 2025. The prizes, launched by T4 Education in 2022 following the COVID-19 pandemic, aim to highlight innovative practices in schools that are transforming lives both inside and outside the classroom, according to a statement. Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust Higher Secondary School, a charity-run primary and secondary school in Glaxo Town, Feroz Pur Road, Lahore, has
Child Rights in Focus
Three underage Hindu girls who had mysteriously gone missing from Shahdadpur recently have been recovered from Karachi. Officials said on Thursday that Dr Lal Chand Ukrani, special assistant to the chief minister of Sindh on minority affairs, had taken serious notice of the incident and directed law enforcement agencies to ensure immediate recovery of the girls — Sheena, Jiya, and Diya. Upon receiving reports of the disappearance of the girls, Dr Ukrani had contacted
Hyderabad: The Sindh Textbook Board (STBB) reviewed committee has emphasised the inclusion of critical thinking, creativity and tolerance in school curricula. Officials said on 18-June-2025 that on the directives of Sindh Minister for Education Syed Sardar Ali Shah, the first meeting of the curriculum review committee formed by the Sindh Textbook Board was held to evaluate educational textbooks. During the session, education experts, scholars, and writers stressed the importance of including lessons in school
Islamabad. In view of the increasing trend of child marriage and its serious consequences, the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), along with women’s rights organisations, has launched a comprehensive campaign across the country calling for a ban on marriage before the age of 18. Addressing a press conference, NCSW Chairperson Ume Laila Azhar applauded the ICT Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2025. She said that after Sindh, it is a welcome move
DADU: A six-year-old girl was reportedly subjected to sexual assault by two suspects and then dumped into a pit in unconscious condition in Markhpur locality here on 17th June. Police sources said the victim, daughter of a labourer, was reportedly lured away by the suspects to the pit in a desolate area where they subjected her to assault and fled, leaving the child badly injured and unconscious. The victim’s relatives, who were out searching
SUKKUR: Over 500 women coming from different walks of life attended a gathering in the Sachal Academy Auditorium, Khairpur, on 16th June and vowed to work for safeguarding children’s rights. They belonged to 20 UCs of Khairpur district and travelled to the venue for, what was described as the “grand district-level advocacy event”, mainly focused on ending early and forced marriages in Sindh. The event was organised by a coalition of local civil society
Punjab unveils Rs5,335b surplus budget; Federal transfers estimated at Rs4,062.2b LAHORE: Punjab Finance Minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman on Monday presented a Rs5,335 billion surplus budget for financial year 2025-26 in the provincial assembly amid strong protest by the opposition. In the next fiscal year, the government estimated Rs4,062.2 billion federal transfers from the Federal Divisible Pool, while Rs828.2 billion would be generated from the province’s own resources under the head of provincial revenue.
In Pakistan, we have witnessed several episodes of violence, harassment, repression and even murder of several women across the various layers of our economic strata. From the affluent Noor Mukaddam to the totally unknown little Zainab, we have seen countless girls and women of all age groups suffer at the hands of the most brutal and violent men. The nation weeps, talks about it everywhere, condemns it too – but then forgets about it
PESHAWAR: Adviser to the chief minister on information and public relations Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif has said under the Sehat Card Plus programme, free medical services were provided to 4.4 million citizens of the province. “The provincial government has also included expensive and lifesaving treatments like kidney, liver, bone marrow, and cochlear transplants in the Sehat Card programme.” “The budget for the Sehat Card Plus has been increased from Rs28 billion to Rs35 billion,
ISLAMABAD: Since seeing thousands of comments justifying the recent murder of a teenage TikTok star in Pakistan, Sunaina Bukhari is considering abandoning her 88,000 followers. “In my family, it wasn’t an accepted profession at all, but I’d managed to convince them, and even ended up setting up my own business,” she said. Then last week, Sana Yousaf was shot dead outside her house in the capital Islamabad by a man whose advances she had repeatedly rejected,
LAHORE/GUJRAT: The Hafizabad police have booked an unknown suspect(s) on the charge of raping a 14-year-old audibly challenged girl with poor mental and physical condition. The girl was brought to a government hospital on Saturday by her parents due to her deteriorating health where doctors found her six-month pregnant. The Hafizabad City Police Station registered FIR number 1152/25 on Sunday under Section 376 (3) of Pakistan Penal Code against the unidentified suspect(s) for allegedly
ISLAMABAD: As many as 47 environmental samples have tested positive for poliovirus, according to an official of the polio programme. As part of ongoing robust poliovirus surveillance across the country, a total of 116 environmental (sewage) samples were collected from 82 districts during the month of May and tested at Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad. “Moreover, 11 samples are currently under process in the lab,”