The Department of Education, Punjab, has granted final approval for the revised admission policy for the 2026 academic year, together with the new school calendar and the schedule for annual examinations. It has also sanctioned the replacement of 29 textbooks for classes from six to matric. The newly proposed syllabus has been endorsed with only minor amendments, and the updated textbooks are set to go to print in December. The department has confirmed that
Child Rights in Focus
Across Pakistan’s towns and cities, families wrestle with agonising choices each month: which bill to pay, which cost to delay and, increasingly, whether to keep paying school fees. After rent and food, little remains. For many households, that scarcity means deciding which child gets to stay in school. More often than not, boys are prioritised while girls are asked to step aside – a reflection of entrenched cultural norms that see sons as future
LAHORE: Senior Minister Punjab Marriyum Aurangzeb said that practical measures are being taken for the protection and welfare of children under the leadership of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. She reiterated that the Punjab government upholds a strict zero-tolerance policy towards child abuse and exploitation, and child violence is a ‘red line’ for the chief minister. She said this while addressing a ceremony organised by Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) in collaboration with
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on November 21 called upon private organisations and individuals to join hands with the government in promoting education, announcing that if any private entity or individual adopts a school under the Accelerated Digital Learning Programme (ADLP), the government would match their contribution by establishing another school bearing their name. Addressing the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) programme of the Phase-II of the ADLP, he said that the initiative
TOBA TEK SINGH: Under the Punjab government’s Dog Population Control Policy, Faisalabad will be transformed into a rabies-free city by the end of 2026, in collaboration with an organisation working for animal welfare. This announcement was made by Faisalabad Commissioner Raja Jahangir Anwar during his visit to the Tahirah Animal Welfare Foundation (TAWF) on November 21. He said that to protect people from rabies, a fatal disease transmitted through dog bite, the government will
BAHAWALPUR: Lodhran Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Muhammad Ayyaz handed down a 14-year jail term with a fine to a man, who attempted to rape a boy in Basti Gailiwal in the city police station limits. According to the prosecution, on May 5, 2024, 11-year-old, ‘A’, was going to a shop to send a sum of Rs15,000 through electronic transaction platform, when Kausar Abbas forcibly took him to the rooftop of a nearby mosque. The
NAROWAL: The district police have concluded that a 16-year-old girl, who was allegedly kidnapped, has eloped to Afghanistan on her own free will. According to details, Abdul Haq, a labourer in Sialkot, complained to the police that on Oct 27, his 16-year-old daughter Samina went out of the house to throw a garbage bag. He alleged that an unknown person forcibly abducted her in a car. The Kotwali Police registered an FIR against an
KARACHI: On the occasion of World Children’s Day, which is celebrated on November 20, Unicef and singer and musician Bilal Maqsood unveiled Bachpan Bemisaal, a powerful new series that champions Early Childhood Development (ECD) — the foundation of every child’s health, learning and well-being — through storytelling and music at the Aga Khan University’s (AKU) main auditorium on Thursday. Jointly conceived by Bilal Maqsood and Unicef, Bachpan Bemisaal is a four-part series under the
MUZAFFARABAD: Asserting that the expansion of quality education to remote regions was central to Pakistan’s progress, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on November 20 reaffirmed his government’s commitment to national security as well as to its unrelenting political, diplomatic and moral support for the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Speaking at a ceremony after performing the groundbreaking of a Daanish School in Harighel in Bagh district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), the prime
Islamabad: Federal Education Secretary Nadeem Mahbub reviewed the recently developed monitoring mechanism for Islamabad’s public schools and colleges. Other participants of the review meeting included the FDE’s DG, Deputy DG and Director Monitoring, area education officers and other officials. FDE DDG (Head Monitoring Wing) Asif Iqbal gave a presentation on the activities of the Monitoring Wing and said the Monitoring Wing had been formally notified, and additional and new Deputy AEOs and Assistant AEOs
Islamabad: Every child deserves to grow up safe, happy and hopeful, said Unicef Representative in Pakistan Pernille Ironside on November 20. “Too many children still wake up without nutritious food, a sense of safety or opportunities to learn and that is not the world they asked for. We must do better and we will, with children’s voices guiding our actions,” she told a function organised by the National Commission on the Rights of Child
GUJRAT: A joint official team being led by the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau CPWB) on November 19 took at least 24 children into custody during an operation against begging in various parts of the city. At least 17 women and some men were also detained by the official team for using the children to beggary. The drive was launched on the directions of Gujrat Deputy Commissioner Nurulain Qureshi as CPWB officials, Rescue 1122,