LAHORE: Punjab Assembly’s Standing Committee on Local Government and Community Development has made a significant step by setting 18 years as the minimum legal age of marriage for both boys and girls across the province, abolishing the earlier provision that had permitted girls for marriage at the age of 16. The committee unanimously approved the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2026 to curb child marriages and strengthen child protection laws in the province. It
Child Rights in Focus
Every year, as examinations begin under the Board of Secondary Education Karachi, the same pattern of disruption and disorder resurfaces, exposing an examination system that appears incapable of learning from its own repetition. What should be a routine, well-oiled operation instead descends into confusion, placing an unfair burden on students at the most critical point of their academic year. This year is no different. With over 385,000 candidates appearing across Karachi, reports of last-minute
Mohammed Amin was eight when he died shortly after testing positive for HIV. His mother says his fevers were so bad that he insisted on sleeping in the rain, and he writhed in pain “like he’d been thrown in hot oil.” Not long after, his sister Asma was also diagnosed with HIV. Their family believe both children contracted it from injections with contaminated needles during routine treatment at THQ Taunsa hospital in Punjab. They
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elementary and Secondary Education Department has outsourced 500 low-performing government primary schools in the province to private partners. In the second phase, another 1,500 such schools will be outsourced and the paperwork has already started on it, officials in the education department told Dawn on condition of anonymity. They said out of 500 low-performing schools, 273 schools have already been handed over to the private partners in the winter zone where academic activities have
ISLAMABAD: All three major educational organisations in Islamabad, including the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), the Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (Peira) and the Directorate of Special Education, are being run under interim arrangements. These important organisations currently have no regular heads , leading to a situation that raises questions about the efficiency of the Ministry of Education. The post of DG FDE, which deals with public sector schools and colleges, has been lying
SAHIWAL: City Police claimed to have recovered an 11-year-old girl 48 hours after she had gone missing from the E-Green Bus Stop at Jogi Chowk while standing with her maternal aunt on April 8. Station House Officer (SHO) Rai Nasir said the girl had allegedly been kidnapped by a woman and was later recovered. She was handed over to her parents. According to police, the missing child, Faizain Bibi, a resident of Chak Thatha
LAHORE: The lack of school transport in Punjab is becoming a serious issue, as a large number of public and private educational institutions still fail to provide buses for students. Despite clear orders from the Lahore High Court directing schools to arrange transport to ensure safe travel for children, the ground reality remains quite the opposite. Citizens and parents have expressed serious concern over the situation. Parents from different areas say their children travel
BAHAWALPUR: The Vehari Daniwal police claimed to have arrested two suspects on April 10 for allegedly unleashing their pet dog on a young girl in the Bhatta Ikram locality the other day. According to a Vehari Police spokesperson, Raashida Bibi claimed in her complaint that Zahoor and Asad unleashed their pet dog on her daughter Fatima Bibi (14) for asking the suspects to not bring the dog outside the house. On this, she claimed
LAHORE: The Punjab government’s efforts to eradicate polio have achieved a significant milestone, as all environmental samples collected throughout the province during March—including samples from Lahore, Rawalpindi, and South Punjab—have tested negative for the virus. This development was highlighted during a meeting of the Provincial Task Force for Polio Eradication at the Civil Secretariat, where health officials and administrative leaders gathered to finalise a new roadmap for maintaining a virus-free environment. Provincial Health Minister
JAVED is enrolled in Grade 6 in a government school in his village. Akhtar, Javed’s father, is wondering whether or not he should pull Javed out of school. Akhtar feels Javed is not learning much at school, and that if he is put to work at the nearby auto-repair workshop he will not only earn a little, but would also be learning a skill. Though there is no fee in the government school, there
LAKKI MARWAT: A child protection court sentenced a rape convict to life imprisonment on two terms and 23-year rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs1.2 million. The verdict was pronounced by the additional sessions judge-II Lakki Marwat, who was also the presiding officer of the Child Protection Court. A police official said that the accused, Irfanullah alias Paan, a coach driver, had kidnapped and raped a 13-year-old girl in the Mughal Manjiwala area
KARACHI: A teenage boy took his life after being scolded by his father for failing in the school annual examination, police said on April 9. Airport SHO Kaleem Khan Moosa said Turab Haider, 16, a student at a private school, had failed in the exams and his father, a serving police sub-inspector, scolded him. The teenager became upset and hanged himself inside their residence in Police Lines at the Airport police station. The body