MUZAFFARGARH: A madrassa teacher was arrested on 13th November for allegedly torturing an 11-year-old student in the Uttara Sandeela area after the boy refused to ask for donations. The suspect, identified as Abdul Hafeez, reportedly chained and beat Muhammad Amin after the child declined to collect donations, commonly known as ‘chanda’ from local residents. The incident came to light when the victim’s father, Muhammad Akhtar, reported it to the Karam Dad Qureshi police station.
Child Rights in Focus
ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on 13th November called for providing facilities to schools in rural areas and ensure an effective monitoring system within the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE). The FDE is a supervisory body which oversees affairs of 431 schools and colleges of Islamabad. The directorate has been without a director general ever since the post got vacant in July last year. Since then, the education ministry has been looking after the affairs
KARACHI: The Sindh government has approved the draft of the country’s first-ever ‘Transgender Education Policy’ that proposes adding a separate category for transgender children in admission forms for schools and colleges, alongside male and female options. The policy draft was approved in a meeting chaired by Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah, said a press release issued here on Wednesday. It said that the draft, which will soon be presented before the provincial
SWAT: A large number of girls students on 12th November took to the streets to protest the government’s decision to allocate land of their college for the construction of a boys’ college in Khwazakhela tehsil here. The students chanted slogans against the government’s decision and called for its reversal. The protesting students said that their college building had remained under the use of security forces for 15 years, and when the college was made
LAHORE: The Punjab government on 12th November extended the closure of educational institutions up to the higher secondary level across the province to tackle the hazardous smog situation prevalent for the past few weeks. The provincial capital recorded the highest air quality index (AQI) in the world, surpassing major global cities such as New Delhi and Kinshasa. At its peak on Tuesday, Lahore’s AQI reached an alarming 1,153, while Multan also reported a dangerously
Currently, 20 districts in Sindh are affected by poliovirus, with 13 confirmed polio cases in the province. However, the Sindh government remains fully committed to eradicating the virus, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah pledged on 12-November-2024. Recent data shows that 66 percent of environmental sampling sites in Sindh are positive for Wild Poliovirus 1, he said during a follow-up meeting with Unicef Representative Abdullah Fadil and UN Resident Coordinator Mohammad Yahya. Education
KARACHI: Children from across Pakistan came together to speak up for their rights at a World Children’s Day commemoration held at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, asking decision makers to translate their commitments on child rights and climate change into reality. Talented child musicians, performers and child rights champions shared their demands, hopes and dreams for the future through songs, words, and theatre. “Climate change threatens our world, and we are worried about
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on 11th November restrained the provincial authorities from finalising the tendering process for a multibillion-rupee project of reconstructing schools affected by floods in the province. A single-judge bench headed by Justice Mahmood A. Khan also issued notices to the secretaries of the education & literacy and health departments, managing director of the Sindh Public Procurement & Regulatory Authority, director general of the school education and other respondents as
PESHAWAR: Twenty-six drug addicts tested positive for HIV during the health screening conducted by the authorities after their shifting to rehabilitation centres during the ongoing Drug-Free Peshawar campaign. Details shared with Dawn show that since the launch of the programme, authorities have detained over 500 drug addicts from several parts of the city till Sunday. On Monday, 80 more drug addicts were also shifted to the rehabilitation centres, bringing the number close to 600 since the launch of the
SWAT: The Swat police on 11th November booked several parents for ‘coercing’ their children into begging on the streets. Mingora police station SHO Mujeeb Alam Khan told Dawn that over a dozen children were collected from various parts of Mingora and brought to the police station. “They were provided with food and a safe space to share their experiences,” he said. “Several children disclosed that their parents forced them to beg daily, setting them
PESHAWAR: Paediatricians are pinning hopes on the early formation of the Board of Governors for Khyber Institute of Child Health (KICH) and Children Hospital to make the long-awaited project operational by February next year. They said that the Khyber Institute of Child Health and Children Hospital was approved by the federal government in 2008 and was supposed to become operational in five years but the shortage of funds delay the project. They KICH, the
ISLAMABAD: While World Pneumonia Day is being observed today November 12, the disease claims the lives of over 800,000 children every year. The situation in Pakistan is worsening due to the deteriorating air quality caused by smog. This was stated by Dr Irfan Habib, Medical Director at Child Life Foundation. He said the effects of climate change had made conditions like pneumonia harder to control, especially in urban areas with extreme pollution levels. He said working