ONCE more, a girls’ school has been reduced to rubble in the Mirali tehsil of North Waziristan, and with it, the promise of an education for hundreds of children. The bombing of the only girls’ school in Eppi village, just days after another school was destroyed in the same tehsil, is part of a broader pattern seeking to intimidate communities through attacks on education, especially girls’ education. Lives may have been spared due to
Child Rights in Focus
RAWALPINDI: Divisional Commissioner Amir Khattak on December 15 directed all the deputy commissioners to personally monitor the anti-polio campaign and ensure the security of the polio teams. He stated this during the District Coordination Committee meeting held to review the anti-polio drive, preparations for winter in Murree and Solid Waste Management issues. The meeting was attended by Director Coordination Zenia Humayun, Director Local Government Sibtain Kazmi and the deputy commissioners of Jhelum, Attock, Chakwal
Meanwhile, health experts on December 15 said an estimated 26,000 children and teenagers developed Type 1 diabetes in Pakistan every year but 13,000 or nearly half of them did not survive due to delayed diagnosis and the unavailability of life saving insulin. This information as shared at an awareness ceremony on Type 1 diabetes where an agreement was signed between Meethi Zindagi, a non-profit working with insulin dependent patients, and the Discovering Diabetes Project run
KARACHI: In line with the mission to eradicate blindness, Pakistan Eye Bank Society (PEBS) has completed eye screening of 30,000 schoolchildren as part of its school eye clinic project. The project is being run in collaboration with Rotary Club of Heidelberg Schloss, Germany, said a press release issued here on December 15. It described the screening as a milestone recognition of achieving 50 per cent target of eye examination of 60,000 students in a
KARACHI: Eighteen people, including a three-year-old, were bitten by dogs in the Jumma Goth area in Bin Qasim Town on December 15. According to the Indus Hospital staff, at least 12 of the 18 patients were bitten by a single dog. “The information we have gathered from a dozen patients indicated involvement of a single street dog that’s highly suspected to be rabid. It attacked other animals as well in the locality and jumped
MIRAMSHAH: Terrorists blew up another government primary school in the Mirali tehsil of North Waziristan district on the night of December 14, spreading fear and anxiety among students. According to police, the incident occurred in Eppi village, where unknown assailants planted explosive material inside the building of government girls primary school during the night, triggering a powerful blast that destroyed the structure. Police officials said the school was closed at the time of the
The National Institute of Health issued an advisory on the prevention and control of seasonal influenza (H3N2) after 340,856 suspected cases were reported nationwide between epidemiological weeks 44 and 49. The objective of this advisory is to alert and facilitate the health authorities and other stakeholders to ensure timely preventive and control measures, encompassing preparedness to deal with the increased workload expected in outpatient and inpatient departments during the next few months. According to
Islamabad:An estimated 26,000 children and teenagers develop Type 1 diabetes in Pakistan every year but 13,000 or nearly half of them do not survive, health experts warned on December 15, saying that delayed diagnosis and the unavailability of life saving insulin are costing hundreds of young lives across the country. They said around a quarter of these children with Type 1 diabetes die before their condition is even diagnosed, while the remaining deaths occur
Islamabad: The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Unicef to join the Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative and the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future. The officials said many children in Pakistan were exposed to lead at levels that adversely affected their growth, cognitive development, and long-term health, requiring urgent coordinated action. This commitment, according to them, underscores Pakistan’s dedication to protecting children from the impacts
EVERY announcement of a vaccination campaign reflects Pakistan’s recognition of the polio problem and a resolve to defeat the crippling virus. Health Minister Mustafa Kamal has launched the final nationwide polio drive of 2025 with the goal to immunise over 45m children. The minister said that the number of polio incidents in the country was lower than last year’s shameful count of 74. Yet he conceded that the scourge exists in “more than half
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has approved Rs21.8 billion for strengthening school-level service delivery, improving learning environments, and addressing longstanding gaps in infrastructure and human resources at public sector schools. These approvals form part of the government’s broader education reform agenda being implemented under the good governance roadmap, according to official documents available with Dawn. “The major chunk of the approved funds worth Rs6.185 billion would be utilised through parent-teacher councils (PTCs) to support
Pakistan’s education system has long suffered from a chronic absence of structured career counselling, forcing students to make life-altering academic choices at the tender age of 14 or 15, often based on parental pressure, peer influence or sheer guesswork. Against this backdrop, the Inter Board Coordination Commission’s decision to allow matriculation Arts students to transition into Pre-Medical and Pre-Engineering streams is, on the face of it, a progressive correction to an inflexible system that