RAWALPINDI: Police on 26 Feb arrested a man identified as Ibrahim Yaseen, who was accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy in a madrassa in Rawalpindi. “My son went to offer prayers; on his way back, the suspect who was lying in wait assaulted my son and recorded an indecent video,” said the boy’s father. In the First Information Report filed on Wednesday, the 12-year-old boy was at a madrassa in his village at
Child Rights in Focus
26.2m Children Out of School, 13.4m Girls, says Education Report
February 27, 2026
ISLAMABAD: The Statistics and Trends Report 2023-24 on girls’ education reveals that a total of 26.2 million children are still out of school, 13.4 million of whom are girls. Regarding facilities for disabled students, the report revealed that 23% of schools have ramps, but there are fewer educational institutions providing special teaching materials or assistive devices. The report also mentions that 23% of teachers in girls’ schools are trained at the foundational level. Only
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Feb 25 officially launched the No Child Left Behind campaign to bring all out-of-school children into classrooms within the next three years. Pakistan has an alarming 26 million out-of-school children across the country, with no exception in the federal capital, where thousands of children remain out of school. According to the Ministry of Education, the drive is a focused and time-bound initiative aimed
Schoolgirl’s Death Leads to Construction SOPs
February 26, 2026
CHINIOT: In the aftermath of the death of a girl at school in Sialkot, the public schools across Punjab have been directed to cordon off under-construction structures and depute one teacher whole time during the school hours to stop the children getting close to under-construction structures. On directions of School Education Department, Chiniot District Education Authority’s Chief Executive Officer Azhar Sohail Niazi has issued instruction and precautionary measures and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to
Septuagenarian, Minor Girl Die of Rabies in Karachi
February 26, 2026
KARACHI: The city saw two deaths from rabies on Tuesday, raising the total number of mortalities from the deadly viral disease to six in the province. The dog-bite victims — 75-year-old Naimat Gul hailing from Lyari and 10-year-old Lata from Mirpurkhas — had been admitted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and the Indus Hospital on Monday. “The Lyari resident was brought to the hospital’s emergency department where he passed away within 24
RAWALPINDI: An incident of alleged sexual abuse of a 12-year-old boy in a madrassa at the hands of a seminary teacher, Ibrahim Yaseen, was reported in Rawalpindi on Feb 25. The First Information Report (FIR), reported in the jurisdiction of Gujar Khan Police Station, states that the 12-year-old boy was studying at a madrassa in his village at the village mosque, a double-story building. After completing his duty of calling the prayer (azaan), the
Easier CNIC Access
February 25, 2026
NADRA’S decision to issue CNICs to first-time applicants without requiring them to produce a birth certificate is a practical step. For years, the lack of a computerised birth certificate issued by local governments, especially in rural and underserved districts, has kept thousands of citizens, mostly women, from obtaining a national identity card. In many areas, births are never formally registered, or are recorded in informal ways that fail to meet CNIC requirements, resulting in
Two Jailed for Life in Kidnap, Rape Case
February 25, 2026
KARACHI: A sessions court has sentenced two men to life imprisonment in a kidnap and rape case Additional District and Sessions Judge Abdul Zahoor Chandio, who is also the presiding officer of the Gender-Based Violence Court (South), found Muhammad Arif alias Tunga and Shahbaz alias Chabba guilty and sentenced them on two counts: life imprisonment for committing rape and additional years of jail for kidnapping. However, both the sentences would run concurrently, the court
Headmaster Suspended after Student Stabbed at Hazro School
February 25, 2026
TAXILA: The headmaster of Government Boys High School Hazro has been suspended following a shocking incident in which a Grade-7 student was seriously injured when another student stabbed him on the school premises, officials confirmed on Feb 23. According to rescue and police sources, the incident occurred during school hours when a minor dispute between two students reportedly turned violent. In a fit of anger over what officials described as a petty disagreement, one
ISLAMABAD: The capital police have arrested 588 professional beggars and registered cases against them in the current year as a crackdown against organised beggars’ mafia continued. The identification process of the facilitators of beggars is ongoing with the help of Safe City cameras and human intelligence sources, said the police in a statement. “Under the special directions of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad, Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi, Islamabad Police have continued comprehensive operations
Videos Show Students Doing Physical Labour At School
February 24, 2026
RAHIM YAR KHAN: Some video clips surfacing on social media showing students of a government school in the district, who were allegedly made to do hard physical tasks, like transporting bricks and cleaning classroom, have caused concern among the parents and the civil society. These video clips was allegedly recorded at the Government Boys High School at Chak 72-NP on Shahbazpur Road, where young students were engaged in cleaning activities and manually transporting bricks
Education Boards Stopped from Conducting Exams of Unregistered Private Schools in KP
February 24, 2026
PESHAWAR: The elementary and secondary education department has directed all the education boards to stop conducting matriculation and intermediate examinations of the students enrolled in private high and higher secondary schools that are not registered with Private Schools Regulatory Authority (PSRA). “Around 387 private high and higher secondary schools are not registered with PSRA but all of them are affiliated with education boards that are conducting matriculation and intermediate examinations of their students,” an