|
Third Swabi school blown up in five days
SWABI/KARAK, February 29: Unidentified militants blew up a government primary school in Razzar tehsil of Swabi district on Feb 28. It was third incident of its kind in the area during the last five days. “One of the two bombs planted by suspected militants at the school went off while the other was defused by Bomb Disposal Squad,” police said.
The boys and girls, getting education at the said school, were told to remain at home till further order. An FIR was registered in Kalu Khan police station against unidentified persons.
770,405 children administered polio drops in Sindh: official
HYDERABAD, February 28: As many as 770,405 school-going children were vaccinated against the Hepatitis-B during the campaign launched from February 13 to 25, according to a handout issued by Hepatitis Prevention and Control Programme Sindh.
The children were vaccinated in Matiari, Jamshoro, Tando Allahyar, Dadu, Badin, Hyderabad and Tando Muhammad Khan. In Karachi, children were vaccinated in Liaquatabad, Gulberg , North Karachi, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Shah Faisal, Jamshed, Korangi, Landhi, Baldia Town, SITE, Orangi, Keamari, Saddar, Lyari, Malir, Bin Qasim Town and Gaddap.
Court issues notices over closed schools
LARKANA, February 25: The Sindh High Court, Larkana circuit bench, admitted a petition against the closure of schools in areas infested with tribal clashes, and issued notices to some officials to file their comments in court on March 9.
The petitioner invoking the court`s extraordinary jurisdiction requested it to direct administration, police and education departments to bring an end to criminal activities and tribal conflicts and reopen all closed schools. The court immediately issued notices to Sindh Education Secretary, Commissioner and DIG of Larkana range, deputy commissioners and SSPs of different districts, director schools and district education officers.
The petitioner stated that the ongoing conflicts among Mahar, Jatoi, Marfani, Brohi, Jeho, Kehar, Chachar, Jagirani, Korai, Ramejo, Kalwar, Narejo, Abro, Kharos and Udho tribes have not only taken innocent lives but restricted the movement of people by making places `no go areas`.
Besides, it stated, there are some 500 schools in Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Qambar-Shahdadkot and Larkana imparting education to thousands of children with hundreds of people employed there. The closure of schools was not only depriving children of education but at the same time draining state coffers of millions of rupees by way of regular salary payments. Top
Underage marriage case, Girl’s father, three others sent to jail
GUJRANWALA, February 22: The Magistrate Yasir Hayat sent the father of a 12-year-old girl, who was forcibly married to a 45-year-old man, and three others to jail. Earlier, the police produced the girl’s father Arshad, former husband Saleem and witnesses Siddique and Latif in court. However, the Nikkahkhawan is still absconding. Arshad had married off his daughter Kiran Shahzadi to Saleem on the promise of getting a house, in which he was living on rent, transferred in his name.
Drive to vaccinate 570,000 school children against hepatitis
KARACHI, February 20: A 10-day campaign to vaccinate about 570,000 students of 3,600 government schools in the city against hepatitis B has started under the Sindh chief minister’s initiative for a hepatitis-free Sindh according to a statement by project director of the provincial hepatitis control programme Dr Abdul Majeed Chhuto at a symposium.
All students studying in Class I to X would be vaccinated in the first phase of the campaign in the five districts of Karachi which would be followed by another round of vaccination for private school children, he said. A second and third dose of the vaccine will be administered with a gap of one month in between.
Professor Dr Serajudullah Syed, a consultant pathologist, said that the type B and C could be considered the most dangerous as they accounted for 78 per cent of liver cancer cases. These could be transmitted through the use of affected blood or blood products, the use of contaminated syringes during medical procedures or injection drug use, he said, adding that hepatitis B could also be transmitted from mother to child at the time of birth. Top
7,000 children kidnapped in 2011: HRCSA Report
KARACHI, February 20: Around 7,000 children were kidnapped last year and of the total, a large number belonged to Karachi, a report published by the Human Rights Commission South Asia (HRCSA) highlighted, stating that kidnappings noticeably increased in 2011.
Research of a hundred police stations of Karachi by the HRCSA showed that around 3,090 parents filed FIRs for lost children last year. Further classification by the HRCSA showed that the number of missing boys is around 2,500, whereas the number of girls is around 600, with their ages ranging between 11 and 12. However, there are some cases with children even younger than that.
The report found that 34 percent of the children kidnapped were enrolled at a madrassa or a school. The HRCSA reported that almost 270 mosques in Karachi announced a child missing from their vicinities. Speaking about the increasing number of children reported lost, John Ericson, chairman of the commission, says poverty, physical and emotional abuse are often the topmost cause for children running away from home.
The report goes on to highlight that the lack of investigation and awareness of the police has helped kidnappers a lot. “These children often have limbs amputated and are used for begging. In other instances, they are sold for a hefty amount of money to people from other countries. This has been going on for years without any investigations into why it takes place,” says Ericson.
Ericson adds that the main aim of the government should be to protect these children or help make law enforcing agencies strong and self reliant so that this heinous trend can be controlled and eventually eradicated.
Anti-polio drive leaves out 94,000 children
KARACHI, February 20: About 94,000 children up to five years of age in the city could not be vaccinated against the dreaded poliovirus, which infected nine children belonging to six towns of Karachi in 2011.
According to an independent coverage survey pertaining to the last polio vaccination campaign in Sindh, conducted from Jan 30 to Feb 1, although the overall coverage rate in the province increased by one per cent, Karachi failed to improve its coverage.
The latest report recorded the overall coverage of children by finger marking as 98%, while Karachi remained static at 96%. The coverage survey is normally conducted soon after the campaign to have immediate follow-up vaccinations known as sweeping.
According to experts, normally a coverage rate above 95% is considered commendable and a safe level as far as control of polio is considered. In Karachi, aside from Gulberg, there were three more towns – Liaquatabad, Orangi and North Karachi – which could only cover 93%, 94% and 95% of the children.
The coverage rate in Umerkot, Ghotki, Nawabshah, Naushahro Feroze and Kambar districts came to 99%. In other districts the coverage rate ranged from 97% to 98%.
Furthermore, conditions like having to ensure at least one lady vaccinator/volunteer in every team has also doubled the task of the supervisors and health officers, as ensuring the appointment of women field workers in every team has not been possible in many towns, the official added.
One official disclosed that some people were not willing to share family details with the teams after hearing about the doctor in Abbottabad who pretended to be a polio vaccinator while working for an intelligence agency to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Top
Uzma Ayub, family starving as govt help stops
ISLAMABAD, February 20: The gang rape victim Uzma Ayub, who now is a mother of an infant girl, has suddenly been dumped by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and is virtually close to starving. She has appealed to the chief justice of Peshawar High Court (PHC), provincial government and the NGOs to provide her food and help on an emergency basis.
She told The News on phone that when the CJ had ordered to provide her a residence in Peshawar, he had also directed the authorities concerned to facilitate them with all the needs but now food and rations have finished and she and her daughter and family are starving.
Uzma said that a few days back when an NGO woman had taken away her baby, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain had come to her along with the minister for women development and assured her full support and all needed provisions but then no one bothered to call back.
When asked about the DNA test of her daughter she said the report has not been released yet but when her daughter was hospitalised a few days back, she and her brother Zafranullah had heard from the doctor that one accused Nasibullah had been declared as the father of her daughter Zeba.
“But the report has not been confirmed yet and it has not been presented before the court,” she added. Uzma Ayub also appealed to the chief justice of PHC to arrest Ibrahim, the alleged murderer of her brother Alamzeb, who is still at large and moving freely in Karak while the police over there have given him a free hand.
For not sending children to school: Parents to face jail in Khyber Agency
LANDI KOTAL, February 17: Authorities in Khyber Agency have decided to arrest those parents who would refuse sending their children below 10 years of age to school.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting in Jamrud on Feb 16 with additional political agent Said Ahmad Jan in the chair. Officials of the education department and some local journalists attended the meeting.
Later, talking to Dawn Mr Jan said that a committee headed by him and comprising the education department officials, local elders and journalists would meet parents in Jamrud and Landi Kotal later this month to persuade them to enroll their school-going children at the nearest government school.
He said that the committee would organise awareness programmes throughout the agency to convince the parents on sending their children to schools. However, he made it clear that parents would be sent to jail if they refused to follow the official persuasions.
Nawaz Khan, an official of the Agency Education Department, said that the committee would do its best to highlight the importance of education. He said that appeals would be made in mosques, hujras and other public places to apprise the residents of the government policy on education. The committee has convened its first meeting on Feb 21 in Jamrud tehsil. Top
Kids’ language issues tied to moms’ low vitamin D: Study
February 16: Mothers who had low vitamin D levels while they were pregnant are more likely to have a child with language impairment than mothers who had higher levels of the vitamin, according to an Australian study. While the study, published in Pediatrics, did not show that low levels of the vitamin itself caused the issues, researchers said it pointed to a “plausible association” that warranted more attention.
Earlier studies had shown some links between low vitamin D during pregnancy and problems in children such as weaker bones, asthma and poor growth, said Andrew Whitehouse, lead author.
Twenty years ago Whitehouse and his colleagues measured the vitamin D levels of more than 700 women who were about halfway through their pregnancy, seeking to determine whether levels of the vitamin might have anything to do with children’s later behavioral and language development.
Five and 10 years later, they tested the children of these mothers to measure their behavioral and emotional development, and language skills. The researchers split the mothers into four groups, from lowest to highest vitamin D levels, and found that the risk of having a child with emotional or behavioral issues was the same for each group.
When they looked at language skills, though, the team found that mothers in the group with the lowest vitamin D levels were more likely to have a child with language impairment, as determined from scores on a vocabulary test, than mothers in the highest vitamin D category.
Pakistan has second lowest school enrolment: study
KARACHI, February 14: Pakistan stands second in global ranking of out-of-school children with 57.3 per cent children in the 3-5 age group not enrolled in any school in the rural areas and 65.5 per cent mothers being in the illiterate category.
Citing the figures at the launch of the Annual Status of Education Report (Aser), experts said the challenges on the educational front could not be overcome unless the citizens fought for quality education for their children as their fundamental right.
A total of 48,646 households were surveyed in 2,502 villages across 84 rural districts. Children aged 5-16 were tested for language and arithmetic competencies while detailed information was collected about children above three years of age. Data was also collected from government and private schools.
Sharing details of the national survey (rural), ITA programme director said of the 32,323 children surveyed in the 3-5 age group, 57.3% were not enrolled in any school. Of those enrolled, 67. 6% were in government schools, 29.3% in private schools, and 2.7% in madressahs and 0.4% in `other institutions. Girls` enrollment stood at 42.2 per cent.
Gender disparity, she said, was clearly reflected in the survey. School enrolment for children aged 6-16 years stood at 79.9%, comprising 36% girls and 64% boys.
According to the report, of the 20.1 per cent children found out of school, 5% had dropped out, while 15.1% had never been enrolled. Among the out-of-school children, 52.7% were found to be girls.The report states that 41.8% children could read at least a sentence in Urdu or their own language, while 20.4% were unable to read letters.
Among government primary schools, 55.4% had useable water facility, 43% a functional toilet, 65.1% boundary walls and 37.1% a playground within the premises.
Of the 50,473 mothers in the sampled households, 49% agreed to be tested for literacy and of them 65.6% fell in the illiterate category.
The survey presents a dismal picture of rural Sindh, covering 17 districts where it found 62.4% young children un-enrolled. Girls` enrolment stood at 34.1%. The highest ratio of out-of-school children in the province was in Kashmore, followed by Thatta.
Of the enrolled children, 90% were found in government schools, 9.2% in private schools and 0.5% in madressahs. School enrolment for children aged 6-16 years stood at 70.6%, comprising 34.9% girls and 65.1% boys. Drop-out rate was 29.5%, while 24.4% had never been enrolled. Among the out-of-school children, 50.2% were girls.
Only 37.3% of class 3 students were able to read sentences, while 85.1% could not read a story.
Of the government primary schools surveyed, 47.8% had useable water facility, 32.8% functional toilet, 69.4% boundary walls and 38% a playground. Top
33 bonded labourers freed
UMERKOT, February 13: Police raided two farms and freed 33 bonded labourers, 16 children and six women among them, near Kunri.
The raids were conducted on the orders of the Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit bench, and the District and Sessions Judge of Umerkot.
The first raid was conducted on the farm of Ameer Hassan Khaskheli where 15 bonded labourers, including eight children and three women, were freed.
The second raid was conducted on the farm of Mohammad Ismail Kapri and at least 18 bonded labourers, eight children and three women among them, were freed. The two petitions were filed by Somji Kolhi and Alam Kolhi.
Child Labourers Killed in Factory Explosion
LAHORE, February 9: A factory illegally making veterinary medicines collapsed on February 6, killing at least 16 women and 3 children. The blast at the three-storey building is believed to have been caused by a gas leak. It is feared that more women and children may still be trapped under the debris of the collapsed structure. Residents claim that children below the legal working age of 14 (as stipulated in the Employment of Children Act 1991) were employed there to pack medicines. A total of 60 people, including women and under-aged children who worked in the factory, were inside the premises when it collapsed, according to the rescue department.
According to UNICEF up to 10 million children are estimated to be working in Pakistan. The latest government figures, showing three million child labourers, date back to 1996, underscoring the apathy of the Government and the scant attention that it has paid to documenting the problem, which is likely to get worse given the rate at which the population is growing.
According to Hussain Naqi, the national coordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan the whole industry has moved into private homes, which has made it a bit difficult to monitor if child labour is being used. He was quoted by Reuters saying that child labour is endemic all across Pakistan in very dangerous sectors like glass bangle manufacturing, cleaning of oil tankers, poultry farms, motor workshops, brick kilns and small hotels.
(Courtesy: Reuters) Top
Student’s teeth broken for not learning lesson
GUJRNAWALA, February 2: A teacher broke the teeth of a six-years-old student for not learning her lesson. Hina, a student of class 2 at a private school, had not learnt the lesson and her teacher broke her teeth as a punishment. The teacher also allegedly misbehaved with the victim’s aunt when she went to lodge a complaint with the school management. On the complaint of victim’s father, the DCO has ordered an inquiry into the matter. The DO Education has been appointed as inquiry officer. Top
Stolen baby found after mother’s death
BATKHELA, February 1: A just-born baby boy stolen from Batkhela Hospital has been recovered but unfortunately he cannot be returned to his mother as she died of shock soon after his disappearance. Sources said that police and Malakand Levies, acting on information, raided a house in Ouch area of Lower Dir district on Jan 31 and recovered the child. Two men and a woman accused of the crime were arrested. Police identified two of them as Gul Shahida, wife of Raza Khan, and Pervez, son of Raza Khan, but mysteriously withheld the name of the third accused. Top
|
