LAHORE: Punjab teachers completely boycotted the Training Need Assessment (TNA) test held in the province on 27th October to assess the training needs of teachers in the School Education Department (SED). The government had designed the TNA App, developed by PMIU-PESRP, to assess the training needs of teachers in the department. It would enable efficient online testing through an MCQ-based assessment, evaluating essential teaching competencies. The app is designed to ensure seamless navigation and
Child Rights in Focus
This video features Valerie Khan, an expert in Gender Equality, Social Inclusion (GESI), and Child Protection. The discussion covers key issues like child marriage, juvenile justice, and gender-based violence (GBV). Valerie emphasizes the critical need for prevention, explaining how investing in the protection of women and girls drives meaningful, lasting societal change.
In this talk, Zeeba Hashmi, a prominent education advocate, addresses the critical need for the democratization of education in Pakistan. She explores the challenges of unequal access to quality education, highlighting disparities across socio-economic, gender, and regional lines. She emphasizes the importance of making education accessible to all, promoting inclusive policies, and fostering an environment where every child, regardless of background, can thrive academically. Zeeba Hashmi is an opinion writer and a researcher exploring
PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has issued notices to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and some of its officials, ordering them to respond to a petition for the effective introduction of the updated nikahnama and the enforcement of a law on premarital screening for thalaessaemia and hepatitis C. The order was issued by a bench consisting of Justice Syed Mohammad Attique Shah and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah after preliminary hearing into the petition jointly filed by Nida
AT the launching ceremony of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) project to be implemented in Sindh a couple of years ago, I asked the then leader of the initiative whether they had conducted any assessment of teachers’ needs. His response was typical: “We know their needs.” This has been a major issue with the reform initiatives in education in Pakistan. The interventions usually disregard contextual realities and the needs of teachers, and thus fail
LAHORE: The Punjab Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) has announced that the province will digitalise the data of missed children so that they are followed up and vaccinated in every campaign. Punjab EOC Coordinator Adeel Tasawwar announced this while presiding over a meeting held here on October 25 to review the readiness of districts for the upcoming polio eradication campaign starting from October 28 all over Punjab. In big districts like Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad,
ISLAMABAD: Just a day after World Polio Day, Pakistan reported another polio case on 25th October, taking this year’s tally to 41. The new case was reported from Loralai district of Balochistan. Health officials said the patient, a 42-month-old girl, had onset of paralysis on Oct 8. She did not receive any dose during routine immunisation campaigns. Notably, this was the first case reported from Loralai this year. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in
MANSEHRA: A government primary school in the Sohni area of Kaghan Valley has been reconstructed almost 19 years after its destruction by an earthquake. During the opening ceremony on Friday, district education officer Sarfaraz Ahmad said the school building was resistant to earthquakes and could fulfil heating and other needs of students during the harsh weather conditions. “This is one of hundreds of quake-hit schools and colleges in the province but the government’s funding
ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on 25th October called for mass level awareness in eradicating trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants. “However we need accurate information, informed by legal knowledge that can serve as a guideline for the government,” Mr Kundi said while addressing an interactive session with journalists on media reporting in trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants and bonded labour in Pakistan organised by the Sustainable Social Development
THE new National Cyber Crime & Investigation Authority appears to have landed in limbo, with the authorities apparently unsure about what purpose they expect to see it fulfil. According to a news report in this paper, the government has formally repealed the rules devised to govern the body, leaving its status in doubt. Officials who spoke to this publication were unsure about whether new rules would be issued or whether the body would be
TAXILA: Two persons have allegedly sexually assaulted an eleven-year-old boy in the limits of Attock police station on 24th October, a police spokesman said. Saqib Shahzad reported to police that his nephew was playing cricket with his friends when the suspects came to the cricket ground and lied to him that his goat fell into a deep ditch in Mai Kassi area and took him there where they forcefully sexually assaulted him. When he
LAHORE: Punjab Prosecutor General Syed Farhad Ali Shah on 24th October admonished police investigators for ignoring provisions of anti-rape law in the probe into the murder case of a minor girl employed as a home help in the Defence-C area. Declaring the minor girl’s murder a high-profile case, the prosecutor general (PG) summoned the investigating officer (IO) and the in-charge of the investigation, along with the records, said a statement. During the briefing, the