KARACHI: Former Caretaker Chief Minister of Sindh, retired Justice Maqbool Bagar, has hailed the initiative to establish the SOS Children’s Village in Premnagar, Islamkot, saying that the care center will be the first-ever in the arid region of Tharparkar for the education and upbringing of both natural and social orphans belonging to Muslim and Hindu communities, which are the two main communities residing in the entire district. He said this at the unveiling ceremony
Child Rights in Focus
ISLAMABAD: Poliovirus is continuously spreading across the country, and the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad has confirmed Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1) in two new districts, Abbottabad and Gwadar, including six other previously-affected districts. This brings the total count of infected districts for the year 2024 to 49, officials said, adding that recent detections highlight the ongoing challenge of polio eradication in Pakistan despite continued efforts.
LAHORE: The Punjab school education department has signed an agreement with Tech Valley UK and Canada for the provision of Chromebooks to 200 schools in the province. Under the agreement signed by Minister for Education Rana Sikandar Hayat, Tech Valley will also offer IT training to 10,000 students and teachers in Punjab with the support of Google for Education. The minister said the agreement with Tech Valley is a significant step towards ‘Digital Punjab’,
As women, many of us have navigated through the uncomfortable changes of puberty with an incomplete understanding of their implications and faced challenging pregnancies without adequate information or healthcare. Our experiences vary based on geographical location, income, and ethnicity. Yet, a shared absence of a rights-based discourse on access to sexual and reproductive healthcare persists. Women’s right to sexual and reproductive health is a fundamental human right under international law, intricately linked to the
LAHORE: In what appeared to be a disturbing incident, the Children’s Hospital has reportedly exchanged a ‘male infant with a dead baby girl’ and handed over the body to the parents, making them move to the police for action against the medics for ‘committing a crime’. An official said that a four-day-old sick baby boy was brought by his parents to the hospital some days back for treatment. During the treatment, he said, the
TAXILA: The Wah Cantonment police arrested a suspect for allegedly sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy on Monday. According to a police spokesman, a case of sexual abuse was registered by Wah Cantonment police on a complaint lodged by the brother of the victim against the accused. A police spokesman said a medical examination had confirmed that the victim had been subjected to sexual assault. The accused had been arrested after the complaint was registered.
PAKISTAN’S education system faces significant challenges on two fronts. Firstly, there is a staggering number of out-of-school children, estimated at 26.2 million. This means that a sizeable portion of the children are not accessing any formal education. Economic factors, cultural barriers, and inadequate infrastructure are the primary reasons. For instance, in some areas, cultural norms may prioritize work or domestic responsibilities over schooling, especially for girls. Additionally, many remote areas lack adequate school facilities,
Pakistan’s prime minister’s declaration of an education emergency is a long-overdue recognition of the severe state of the nation’s education system. However, while well-intentioned, the 14-point plan released by the government lacks the urgency and transformative potential that an actual emergency demands. It reiterates existing initiatives, raising concerns about its effectiveness in addressing the deep-rooted issues that are causing a crisis in the sector. A closer look at these 14 points reveals that these
PESHAWAR: Speakers at a consultancy gathering held here the other day demanded that authorities and policymakers adopt mother languages as compulsory subjects in educational institutions. The meeting on the Mother Languages Movement was organized under the auspices of Mafkoora, a research and development organization. The participants, including rights activists and language experts, urged the provincial government to issue a notification ensuring the teaching of designated mother languages as compulsory subjects in both public and
ISLAMABAD: As many as 68,100 children under the age of five years died in Pakistan in 2021 due to high exposure to air pollution. This figure was revealed in a report titled `Latest State of Global Air 2024`, released in partnership with Unicef. It stated that air pollution was the second leading risk factor for death among children under five. Moreover Pakistan had experienced increases of more than 10pc in ambient ozone exposures in
We are immensely proud to announce that @ayesharazafarooq, Chairperson of the @ncrcpak has been appointed as the Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Eradication. On her very first day in this crucial role, she met with Chris Elias President of Global Development at the @gatesfoundation, and the Chair of the Polio Oversight Board. In a bid to study the virus and get a detailed briefing on the ongoing polio eradication program., she also co-chaired
Expanding the Women’s Rights through Judicial Jurisprudence” is a landmark two-volume book that explores the role of the apex judiciary in Pakistan in recognizing and enforcing women’s rights. Volume 1 focuses on rape and women’s right to inheritance, while Volume 2 addresses domestic violence and child marriage. The book sheds light on the ease of accessing child sexual abuse material on the open web and emphasizes the need for judicial intervention to protect women’s