Minister for elementary and secondary education Faisal Khan Tarakai on 18 March 2024 directed the provision of textbooks to the students in all the public sector schools by the beginning of the new academic year so that their education wasn’t affected. He issued the directives while chairing a meeting of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Text Book Board. He assured the participants of the timely release of funds for the purpose. KP Text Book Board chairman Faral
Child Rights in Focus
A tragedy that could have been prevented. Six months after researchers at the National Institute of Health’s Pakistan Polio Laboratory flagged the presence of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV-1) in sewage samples collected from Dera Bugti in Balochistan, a 30-month-old child has been paralysed by the virus. The child had been suffering weakness in his lower limbs, which worsened progressively. Doctors recently diagnosed it as poliomyelitis, after discovering the poliovirus in biological samples collected
The second polio case in as many days has once again raised concerns over the efforts to end the crippling disease from Pakistan. The latest case has been reported from Balochistan’s Chaman district, where a 52-month-old child has been paralysed by the wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1). According to the Regional Reference Lab for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, WPV1 was isolated from the child`s stool samples. The isolated
THE chief minister of Punjab, Ms Maryam Nawaz, has said that Punjabi will be taught across schools in the province. This was announced at the Punjab Culture Day ceremony last week. It is a welcome announcement. Some 80 million people speak Punjabi in Pakistan and, worldwide, Punjabi speakers number around 110m. Why should the language of so many not be taught in schools? If 80m or so speak the language and are able to
Federal Investigation Agency claimed to have arrested leader of a gang allegedly involved in sexually abusing children and recording their videos reported by daily dawn. A statement issued by FIA said that the agency’s cybercrime wing conducted a raid in the provincial capital on 14 March 2024 and arrested leader of a gang involved in sexually abusing children, adding that the group members would record obscene videos of minors at gunpoint. ‘The accused persons
“Profits and poverty: The economics of forced labour” is published by the International Labour Organization (ILO). It provides insights into the economic aspects of forced labour and aims to understand the profits generated from this exploitative practice. An estimated 20.9 million people are in situations of forced labour worldwide as of 2020. This includes 16 million victims in private sector work like domestic work, construction, manufacturing and agriculture. The report details the methodology used
A boy and his sister, who had reportedly gone missing in North Nazimabad on March 12, returned safely home on March 13, police said, according to media report. However, a Rangers spokesperson claimed that it was a kidnapping case as the siblings’ mother had received a call demanding Rs1m ransom for their release. Central SSP Zeeshan Shafiq Siddiqi told Dawn that the family said that a 12-year-old boy and his 11-year-old sister had left their
A sessions court has sentenced a man to two years in the custody of a probation officer for marrying an underage girl, according to a news report. Additional District and Sessions Judge (west) Irshad Hussain found Muhammad Aslam, 40, guilty of marrying a 15-year-old girl under Section 3 of the Sindh Child Restraint Marriage Act. The convict would stay at his home with his wife, the same underage girl, under the supervision of the
Pakistan ranks 161st on a list of 191 countries on the UN Human Development Index, scoring 0.544 points, according to a report released on 13 March 2024. This shows a slight improvement from 2023, when Pakistan was ranked 164th with 0.540 points, which was three rungs below its 2022 ranking. The 2022 report also noted that Pakistan’s HDI rank remained fixed at the 161st place globally from 2019 to 2021. The indicators are used to
The National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC) has warned that government functionaries, judiciary and civil society have to be strengthened to counter and prevent growing cases of online harassment of children. In a report, `Situational analysis of child online protection in Pakistan’, the NCRC said while many children had access to mobile phone, video games and internet, which offered tremendous benefits for learning, they also faced a number of risks. `Children may
Laila* first met Adeel* at a fine dining restaurant along the coastline of Karachi city, after eight months of online dating on Instagram. She was then 20, he 21. The two talked for hours as the golden sun set, meeting the horizon of the sea. Laila described Adeel as the kindest, most caring man she ever met, and wanted to settle down with him as soon as they both reached their mid-twenties and became
Sahil’s annual report ‘Cruel Numbers 2023’ provides detailed analysis of child abuse cases reported in Pakistani media throughout the year. The report aims to document the scale of child sexual abuse (CSA) and other forms of violence against children to raise awareness and inform legal reform efforts. Key findings of the 2023 report include: A total of 4213 cases of child abuse were reported, comprising 2021 CSA cases, 1833 abduction cases, 330 missing children