KARACHI: Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah on Feb 20 said that 92percent of the school education budget was spent on salaries and pensions, lamenting that the education sector had become a source of employment rather than a focus on learning. Furnishing a statement and replies to lawmakers’ written and verbal queries in the Sindh Assembly, he said that the provincial government had initially decided to recruit 50,000 teachers in 2021, and 95,000 teachers have
Child Rights in Focus
KARACHI: Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah informed the provincial assembly that the government has allocated over Rs18 billion for schools and authorised principals to spend funds on daily needs. He was responding to questions during the education department’s Q&A session on Friday, chaired by Speaker Syed Owais Qadir Shah. MQM-P lawmaker Quratulain Khan raised concerns about inadequate science labs for students preparing for matriculation practical exams. The minister acknowledged the shortage, noting that
ISLAMABAD: Reviewing the HIV situation in the country, the National Assembly Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination on Friday raised concerns about lack of complete information in a report submitted by the health ministry. The committee specifically noted that several requested details were missing, including HIV data from Balochistan. The committee met under the chairmanship of Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani to examine health sector regulatory and policy matters. The meeting was
ISLAMABAD: Approximately 31.9 million births of children registered at respective union councils are yet to be recorded into National Database and Registration Authority’s (Nadra’s) central system. According to annual performance report recently submitted by Nadra to the Ministry of Interior, a total of 227 million individuals are registered with Nadra. Overall, nearly 97pc of the country’s population is now included in the registration system. Among registered individuals, 48 per cent are women and 52pc
KARACHI: Announcing that the Sindh Textbook Board (STBB) has achieved its publication target by preparing 52 million textbook sets for the academic year 2026-27, Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah has said every student will have new textbooks on the first day of the new academic year i.e. April 1. He said this while speaking at a programme held to distribute textbooks among students at the Government Girls Lower Secondary School, Neelam Colony, Clifton, on
THATTA: The Model Criminal Trial Court of Thatta has declared void the marriage of a 16-year-old Hindu girl, ruling that a minor’s purported consent cannot override statutory prohibitions under the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2013. The court ordered that the girl be shifted to a government-run shelter home for protective custody. The order was passed by First Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Islamul Haq Arain the other day on a habeas corpus application filed
LAHORE: A total of 1,695 suspected measles cases have been reported in Punjab during the first four weeks of 2026, with 330 cases confirmed through laboratory testing, according to a report submitted by the Director General Health Services to the Lahore High Court (LHC). The report was filed in response to a petition concerning measles-related deaths in the province. It stated that 40 outbreak alerts have been issued across Punjab so far this year,
KARACHI: Sindh Education Department has announced a significant change in school timings for both public and private institutions during holy month of Ramazan. According to the official notification, primary schools with a single shift will operate from 8am to 12:30pm, with a slight adjustment on Fridays, when they will close earlier at 11:30am. For schools with a double shift, the morning session will run from 7:30am to 11:30am, and on Fridays, it will be
LOWER DIR: Dozens of students seeking migration to the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Malakand are facing uncertainty after the board allegedly declined to process migration cases from other educational boards in the province, putting their academic future at risk. Speaking to local journalists at Timergara on Feb 17, the affected students said migration certificates were not being issued to those seeking transfers from various boards across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. With the deadline for
KARACHI: The School Education and Literacy Department of the Government of Sindh has shown its grave concern over the sale of vapes and other prohibited narcotics at shops situated near school premises. Upon recent visits by inspection and monitoring committee teams to several privately managed schools, it was observed that certain shops, tea houses or cafes operating in the vicinity of school premises were selling vapes and vape products along with other prohibited narcotics
KARACHI: The Benazir Nashonuma Programme (BNP) — a key initiative for stunting prevention that targets pregnant and lactating women and infants — has demonstrated a 6.4 percentage-point reduction in stunting among children aged 6-23 months, along with significant improvements in maternal dietary diversity and a reduction in low birth weight. This was revealed in a meeting between Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and World Food Programme (WFP) Pakistan Country Director Coco Ushiyama
LAHORE: A 14-year-old domestic worker was allegedly sexually assaulted and blackmailed in Lahore after the suspect recorded and shared explicit videos of her, Gulberg Police said on Wednesday. The victim, who worked with her parents at a residence in a private housing society, had befriended the suspect through a female friend. Police said the man lured her out on the pretext of meeting and later took her to a private hotel under the guise