ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for collective efforts to remove cultural or social impediments to ensure women’s access to education, as education leaders from Muslim countries convened in Islamabad to collaborate on initiatives for advancing girls’ education. A two-day international conference, ‘Girls Education in Muslim Communities: Challenges and Opportunities,’ commenced in Islamabad on Saturday to foster dialogue and find actionable solutions to address problems in this regard. The summit brought together leaders from
Child Rights in Focus
LAHORE: The Punjab government on 10th January ordered monitoring of 208 schools run by the seminaries in the province. The government issued a directive to monitor 208 seminary schools across the province aimed at enhancing oversight and ensuring compliance with educational standards. The decision was taken for a broader initiative to regulate religious education institutions and ensure their adherence to the prescribed guidelines. The notification, available with Dawn, mandates local administrations to conduct regular
BAHAWALPUR: The Bahawalpur bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered the Punjab local government and community development director general to take action under the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 against five Nikah registrars, who failed to fill the relevant columns in their registers and the marriage deeds regarding the age of grooms and brides. The anomalies in the record surfaced when LHC Bahawalpur bench senior judge Justice Anwarul Haque Panno was hearing
ISLAMABAD: The Directorate General Special Education, which was transferred to the Ministry of Education three months ago from the Ministry of Human Rights, has only 1,600 students in its all 133 centre while it has 658 employees. Reports say the institution has no fuel to run their busses for pick and drop of the 1,600 special children enrolled in special education centre while no funds were available to pay the electricity, gas, and water
LAHORE: The Punjab government on 9th January unveiled a plan to address the staff shortage in public schools across the province. The initiative is aimed at filling both teaching and non-teaching posts in public schools to improve the working of these institutions. According to officials, the School Education Department (SED) has directed all CEOs of the District Education Authority (DEA) to submit detailed plans for recruitment against vacant posts in their respective jurisdictions. They
KARACHI: For the first time in Pakistan, Sindh has introduced technical education as a part of the traditional curriculum under the “Middle Tech Initiative.” Sindh Education Minister, Syed Sardar Ali Shah, on January 9, inaugurated the initiative, describing it as a milestone in the province’s educational reforms. The inauguration ceremony took place at the CMS Government Boys Secondary Campus School in Karachi. He emphasised that the programme aims to teach technical and vocational skills
PESHAWAR: Adviser to Chief Minister on Information Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif on 9th January assured his support for drafting rules under the already prepared Hindu Marriage Act. “This is a matter of justice and equality,” he stated, pledging to advocate for presenting the proposed rules in the meeting of the provincial cabinet in the coming days. He was talking to a National Lobbying Delegation for Minority Rights who met him here to discuss the
ISLAMABAD: Another case of poliovirus has taken last year’s tally of cases to 70, officials have confirmed. The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in a male child from Karachi’s East district. The case has been counted in last year’s tally as the sample was collected in 2024, a lab official said. Karachi’s East district has now reported two polio
LAHORE: Two teenage sisters, who were arrested in Gujranwala for killing their father by setting him on fire, have alleged rape as the motive behind the murder, police said 08-January-2025. The father was attacked in Gujranwala on January 1 and taken to hospital where he died on Tuesday. “The girls said that they decided amongst themselves to find a permanent solution,” Rizwan Tariq, a senior police official in the city said. They then took
GUJRANWALA: In a shocking incident, two teenage girls tied up their father with ropes and set him ablaze, Gujranwala police said on 07-January-2025. The victim, identified as Ali Akbar, succumbed to his injuries at the hospital after suffering severe burns. According to the police, a case has been registered under Section 302, 324 and 34 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and both girls, aged 16 and 12, have been arrested. Akbar, who had three
BAJAUR: Awami National Party MPA Nisar Khan on 6th January emphasised the need for promoting digital education across the tribal districts to equip the local youth with modern skills. Addressing the inaugural ceremony of a newly established private digital academy in the Khar Bazaar here, he highlighted the need for youth to excel in technology skills to get better jobs. He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in general and the tribal districts in particular lacked IT-related
ISLAMABAD: Unicef has provided seven 4×4 vehicles to Federal Directorate of Immunisation (FDI) to ensure that it would get access to remote regions of Pakistan. “Provision of 4×4 vehicles will help overcome accessibility challenges in hard-to-reach areas of Khyber Paktunkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. Vaccination of children is one of the top priorities of prime minister,” Special Secretary Health Mirza Nasiruddin Mashhood Ahmad said during a ceremony to hand over the vehicles. Funded