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
Child Rights in Focus
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
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
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
ISLAMABAD: Drug-resistant pathogens causing sepsis, ventilator-associated pneumonia, difficult-to-treat urinary infections and drug-resistant tuberculosis are now among Pakistan’s most serious public health threats, federal health officials say, warning that antimicrobial resistance in priority bacterial and fungal pathogens could claim more than 262,000 lives in the country over the next 25 years unless antibiotic misuse and infection control failures are addressed. Pakistan has become the first country in the World Health Organisation’s Eastern Mediterranean Region to
LAHORE: Punjab’s education system is increasingly being taken over by the private sector, as government policies falter and public institutions are pushed toward privatization. In recent years, academies have become essential for matric and intermediate exam preparation, fostering a marks-driven culture and leaving students heavily reliant on what is now a sprawling coaching cartel. The rising number of tuition centres is alarming educationists and parents alike. Poor teaching quality in government schools, heavy curricular
PESHWAR: Every day, 15-year-old Mashal Khan, a sixth-grade student, walks three kilometres from his home to his government high school in Jalala. The journey takes him longer than other children and is especially arduous because he was born with disability in both feet. “It is very difficult for me to reach school on time and I try to start out earlier than other children,” says Mashal. “But on rainy days, I cannot attend school
Not all parents have an equal chance of success at saving their child from a fatal illness. Unfortunately, while fate determines lifespan, so does geography. According to experts, childhood cancer survival rates exceed 80 per cent in wealthy countries but in low- and middle-income countries, such as Pakistan, they drop below 30 percent. This unsettling reality is underscored by the fact that around 10,000 children are diagnosed with cancer in the country every year.
KARACHI: Speakers at a programme on 21 Feb expressed concern over growing social acceptance of rape cases and demanded effective implementation of the anti-rape law. A dialogue on ‘Surge in rape cases: silence of society, lack of institutional and judicial response and commitment’ was organised by the Sindh Women Lawyers Alliance (SWLA) at its office, where a comprehensive discussion was held on the rising incidents in rape cases and the justice system. There was
HYDERABAD: The Sindh government has completed the province’s first-ever real-time digital birth registrations in major public teaching hospitals, describing it as a landmark step in public sector reform and digital governance, said an official announcement issued here on 21 Feb. Four newborns were registered digitally immediately after birth at Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences (LUMHS), Jamshoro/Hyderabad, and Ghulam Mohammad Mahar Medical College Hospital, Sukkur, it added. The registrations were processed through the
UMERKOT: A grieving Hindu family in Umerkot has desperately demanded safe return of their teenage daughter who was allegedly abducted under deceptive circumstances. On Feb 16, the girl, an eleventh grade student, went to a local fair at the Shiv temple and did not return home. Her mother and a sister-in-law held a press conference on Friday at the Umerkot Press Club to share the family’s ordeal and appeal for an urgent action. The
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