Urban children often engage in tuition or schoolwork, while rural children spend more time with family Imagine a perfect world, where every child can enjoy boundless playtime after school. What if children everywhere could freely engage in their favourite activities? What if they all had access to fun and educational programmes? Studies show that post-school hours are crucial for a child’s growth and well-being. The time after school offers a spectrum of children’s activities,
Child Rights in Focus
The chief justice of Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court has summoned the Gilgit SSP and Danyore SHO on 27 March 2024 in a case relating to alleged abduction of an underage girl and her forced marriage. A legal team of the GB High Court Bar representing the father of 13-year-old Falak Noor filed a petition in the GB Chief Court on Tuesday, citing five accused and Eve police officials as respondents in the case. The petition
Protest demonstrations were held in Hunza and Islamabad on 24 March 2024 against alleged abduction and forced marriage of an underage girl belonging to Gilgit. The 13-year-old went missing from Sultanabad village in Gilgit four days ago. In Hunza, the protest was held at Karakoram Highway in Aliabad. A large number of activists from various political parties participated in the demonstration. The protesters were holding placards inscribed with demands for the recovery of the
KARACHI: The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Friday said that the donor agency would work with the Sindh government to chalk out a plan for the reconstruction of flood-affected school buildings in the province. A press statement issued from the CM House said that Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in his meeting with United States Consul General Conrad Tribble and USAID Pakistan Mission Director Kate Somvongsiri discussed expanding the scope
KHYBER: The Pakhtun Students Federation has complained about the `discontinuation` of the provision of free textbooks to students in government schools here and demanded of authorities to reverse the move without delay. In a statement issued in Bara tehsil on 23rd March 2024, PSF Khyber president Abdul Wahab Afridi said that the education sector in the tribal district was hit hard by militancy for over a decade. He said that militant attacks destroyed over
KASUR: Two minors have died, while six other children belonging to gypsy families have been hospitalised so far due to suspected measles outbreak in Khalil Shah locality of Phoolnagar in Pattoki tehsil. Health department teams from Lahore and Kasur reached the affected village on 23 March 2024 and started initial treatment of the children, while launching a medical probe into the matter. As per health officials, a minor girl, Nazia (5) and a boy
The report titled “Situation Analysis of Child Online Protection in Pakistan” provides an overview of the current state of child online protection in Pakistan. It highlights the importance of addressing the risks and dangers faced by children in the digital world, such as cyberbullying, online grooming, and sharing of sexual abuse materials. The report emphasizes the need for comprehensive measures and a global response to protect children from online threats. The Government of Pakistan
“Situation Analysis of Child Labour in Punjab” is a report by SFJPK which provides a concise overview of the situation analysis of child labour in Punjab. Punjab, the most populous province in Pakistan, faces significant challenges in addressing child labour. The Punjab Child Labour Survey (PCLS) 2019-2020 revealed that child labour prevalence has increased compared to previous surveys. Key challenges include intergenerational poverty, lack of viable alternatives, limited access to quality education, lack of
Not just the first such incident, and will not be the last unless stringent labour protection measures are put to practice. Another coalmine incident, in Harnai district of Balochistan, claimed the lives of a dozen workers on 20 March 2024. Hundreds of miners die from mining accidents in Pakistan every year, mainly due to a deposit of coal dust and methane and hydrogen sulphide gases. Most of the deaths occur in developing countries like
In yet another episode of sexual violence in the jurisdiction of the F/9 Park, one of the biggest parks in Asia, a 12-year-old schoolgirl was raped by a youth. The man trapped the girl from her home in F-11/1 through his younger sister and took her to the F-9 Park where he raped her forcibly. The Margalla police, however, have arrested the alleged rapist on the complaint of the victim’s mother, police said. The
The number of child beggars and alms seekers has increased manifold in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad during the holy month of Ramazan according to a news report. The people of the two cities demanded strict actions against those who were involved in child begging and alms seeking. A citizen namely Muhammad Ashfaq said that alms seekers sometimes became a constant nuisance specially in Iftar time at traffic signals and alleged that
ISLAMABAD: Perturbed by the alarming number of 26.2 million out-of-school children (OOSC) across the country, the newly appointed education minister, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, on 20 March 2024 called for imposing an `education emergency` to address the issue. He made these remarks while chairing a meeting on the affairs of the education ministry at the ministry headquarters. Dr Siddiqui, who is also the science and technology minister announced his `intention to advise Prime Minister