BAJAUR: A government high school for girls in Barang tehsil here is yet to be made functional since its construction about 15 years ago, residents complained here on 25 August. The school in the Sharbati area was approved in 2006 to promote girls’ education in the region. Its building was constructed in 2008, area elders and social activists told Dawn. They said the unnecessary delay in making the school functional was causing them great
Child Rights in Focus
KARACHI: The body of a minor girl, stuffed in a gunny bag, was found near a garbage dump in the Lucky Star area on 25 August and doctors said she was murdered after being raped. The Saddar police said that the body was found on Mir Karam Ali Talpur Road. DIG-South Syed Asad Raza said that a passer-by informed the police about the body lying in a gunny bag. He said investigators believed that
The modern world is getting increasingly smaller and interconnected. Whether a newsbreak or a viral outbreak, it travels across continents in the blink of an eye. Just as we were beginning to breathe easier after Covid-19, another virus has silently made its way across our border and made its presence felt. Mpox, once considered as confined to the remotest regions of a few countries of the African continent, has now found its way to Pakistan, proving that
Mothers who give formula or cow’s milk to their children soon after birth are endangering their lives, as breastfeeding not only helps prevent type 2 diabetes in infants but also benefits mothers by reducing their risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life, experts said on Sunday. “It has been proven through various studies that breastfeeding protects infants from type 2 diabetes in the long run. Mothers who give formula milk from day
KARACHI: Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani has praised the exceptional philanthropic support extended by the industrialists of Korangi Industrial Area (KIA) in Karachi to ensure that the children of the labourers employed by them get quality school education. He expressed these views while speaking as the chief guest at the inauguration of the Al-Badar campus, a school of the non-profit Green Crescent Trust (GCT), at the Sharifabad locality of KIA. According to a
RAWALPINDI: A patient at Holy Family Hospital – Rawalpindi’s largest public health facility – has accused the hospital’s staff of killing her newborn by allegedly dropping her to the floor in the labour room. The patient, Amina Bibi, has filed a complaint with the Medical Superintendent (MS) of the hospital, Dr Ijaz Butt, seeking justice. According to the sources, Amina Bibi visited the hospital on August 19 for a check-up, where an ultrasound revealed
On the day I sat down to write this piece about a political leader’s objection to a woman’s clothing, this paper’s front page carried a photograph of doctors at Ganga Ram Hospital protesting the administration’s attempts to bury the alleged rape of a five-year-old girl. A member of the janitorial staff in Lahore has been arrested. According to the hospital’s medical superintendent, the janitor “touched” the girl at 2 am and was apprehended after
A new official report has revealed that Pakistan’s education delivery system has become dysfunctional and all the 134 districts barring Islamabad were lagging behind on indicators ranging from learning outcomes to public financing. The findings of the Planning Commission’s District Education Performance Index Report 2023 underscored the human resource crisis in Pakistan where people are entering into job markets either with no or low education. For many, the crisis was worse than the economic
LAHORE: Police recovered remains of the body of a minor girl who was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by her father’s friend for ransom in the Batapur area. Police recovered her clothes, hair, and bones from the nearby jungle of Batapur, suspecting that the wild animals had attacked and eaten most parts of her body. Fajar (6), daughter of Arshad, was kidnapped two weeks back when she was playing in the street and suspect Kashif
ISLAMABAD: Girls made a near-clean sweep by clinching 13 of the top 15 positions in the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) Examinations 2024 conducted by the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE). According to results declared by the board at a ceremony at Islamabad College for Girls, F-11/3, 16 girls were among the 20 position holders (some of them sharing the positions) and 14 belonged to various educational institutions in the Potohar
As the planet bakes in the hottest summer ever, with each passing month warmer than the last, the climate crisis is depriving children of some of their basic human rights and reducing opportunities for them to secure and live a decent life. Extreme weather events linked to climate change disproportionately affect children’s health and lives. We are facing a child rights crisis, a situation that is already alarming in poor regions that are hit
ISLAMABAD: An official report released on 23 August placed the country’s education system in the ‘low’ performance category and highlighted critical areas requiring attention to improve education outcomes. The District Education Performance Index (DEPIx) Report 2020-23 released by the Planning Commission stated, “Pakistan’s national average score in the DEPIx is 53.46, placing the country in the “low” performance category. Among the five domains, infrastructure and access scored the highest at 58.95, indicating some progress in expanding