ISLAMABAD: The country reported three more polio cases on Saturday, raising the total to 21 for the year, with affected children belonging to Qila Abdullah in Balochistan, Karachi’s Keamari in Sindh, and Mohmand in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This prompted the prime minister’s focal person for polio eradication, Ayesha Raza Farooq, to urge parents and caregivers nationwide to ensure their children are vaccinated against the disease, warning that polio continues to silently threaten future generations. The
Child Rights in Focus
MANSEHRA: Students at the government high school in Khushala area here have been attending classes under the open sky due to a delay in the reconstruction. “The provincial government allocated Rs50 million for the Khushala school’s reconstruction after its demolition three years ago, but the project is still unfinished,” resident Sardar Safeer Ahmad Gujjar told reporters here on Friday. He said that the education department demolished the building but couldn’t persuade the government for
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on 20th September 2024 reviewed the ongoing repair and reconstruction of 4,162 school buildings out of a total of 19,808 that were damaged during the 2022 floods, and directed the school education department to expedite the work and ensure that the schools are rebuilt to be flood resilient. He issued such directives while presiding over a meeting here at the CM House. The meeting was attended
RUSTAM: A teenage boy has his tongue slashed by a brutal robber in the Kotarpan area of Rustam for not being able to provide money. The unknown assailant managed to flee from the scene of the crime. The police have registered a case based on the boy’s statement and have started investigating the matter. According to reports, the victim, Harem, son of Muslim, a resident of Kotarpan, gave his statement to the police while
QUETTA: Members of the task force, set up to address the civic issues of Chaman, on 20th September 2024 expressed concern over the absence of teachers, which has left a large number of schools dysfunctional. A meeting of the task force decided that the schoolteachers not attending their duties would be terminated and new appointments would be made and all schools would be reopened. Likewise, the issues of local government college will also be
LAHORE: Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) coordinator and Punjab polio programme head Khizer Afzaal has said the health teams have been missing children in the vaccination campaigns due to poor planning and low-quality micro-plans resulting in consistent positive environmental samples in Lahore and Rawalpindi districts. Presiding over a meeting held to review the polio campaigns launched in 15 districts of Punjab here on Friday, he expressed his utter displeasure and concern over the practice of
RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi district courts are witnessing a significant rise in parent-child meetings, largely due to the alarming increase in divorce cases. These meetings, once held bi-weekly, have now become a daily occurrence, with 25 to 37 families arriving at the judicial complex each day to see their children. Previously, under family court orders, visits were limited to twice a week. However, the growing number of divorces has pushed the need for more frequent
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has reiterated his government’s commitment to eradicating polio. In a meeting with a delegation of Rotary Foundation headed by its Chairman Mark Maloney, the CM said, “In the wake of cross-border travel from neighbouring countries, Sindh continues to face risk of poliovirus. We are confident that our efforts towards polio eradication yield positive results.” The CM thanked the Rotary Foundation for their support in Pakistan against
KARACHI: Apropos the letter “Ghost Teachers” published on September 19, 2024, the issue of ghost schools is another sad reality in Pakistan’s education system. These schools exist only in name, with buildings left abandoned and teachers still collecting salaries without fulfilling their responsibilities. However, the problem goes beyond just missing educators. The rise of child labour in the country is alarming, and it is hard not to connect it with the state of these
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) launched a four-day “Training of Trainers” (TOT) program for officers from PTA, UNICEF, Telenor Pakistan, the National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC), and the NCERT. This initiative is part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with UNICEF Pakistan and reflects PTA’s commitment to Child Online Protection. The program aims to raise awareness about the online risks children face and equip officers with the tools to help
DEPIx is a comprehensive tool that measures the performance of education systems at the district level, focusing on key outcomes such as access, learning, and equity, processes such as governance, and inputs like public financing and infrastructure. The DEPIx is structured across five domains: Infrastructure & Access, Learning, Inclusion (Equity & Technology), Governance & Management, and Public Financing. It covers 134 districts across Pakistan, including Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Punjab, Sindh, and the Islamabad
QUETTA: Police on 18 September 2024 arrested a private school principal and a warden allegedly involved in child molestation. Police told The Express Tribune that the accused had subjected five children to sexual abuse in the Dera Allah Yar town of Balochistan. Moreover, the local authorities have sealed both the school and the hostel following a formal complaint lodged by parents and students. The incident was exposed when five students from Shaheen Force Residential