Pakistan continues to lose 60,000 babies annually

KARACHI, MAY 9, 2013: Pakistan has the highest first day mortality rate for babies in Asia, making it the most dangerous place in the region to be born, “Save the Children” says. Read more

Teacher suspended over corporal punishment

PESHAWAR, MAY 9, 2013: Khyber Pakhtun-khwa caretaker Information and Education Minister Mossarat Qadeem has suspended a lady teacher accused of giving corporal punishment to a girl student in Government Girls Primary School Padhana in Haripur district. Read more

It’s children literature festival in Islamabad now

ISLAMABAD, MAY 3, 2013: Oxford University Press (OUP), Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) and Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI) Pakistan, have decided to hold first ever Children’s Literature Festival (CLF) in Islamabad from May 24 to 25 at Pak-China Friendship Centre. Read more

Polio virus about to break loose in KP

PESHAWAR, MAY 7, 2013: The highly-paid officials of WHO, Unicef and the ‘rich and prosperous’ provincial Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) may face a lot of criticism in the days ahead as “The News” has received credible information that polio virus is about to get out of control in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and adjoining tribal areas. Read more

Blood and ballots: Children pay the price for terrorism in Karachi

SUKKUR, MAY 6, 2013: Eight-year-old Abdul was unfortunately, the unluckiest of the three children because he became one of the victims of the two blasts that ripped apart a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) office, Unit 153-A, in Azizabad, Gulberg, on Saturday. Read more

One-year-old girl diagnosed with polio

PESHAWAR, MAY 4, 2013: After the ban on polio vaccination by local Taliban last year, a one-year girl became the first polio victim of the paralyzing disease in the volatile North Waziristan Agency, official sources said. Read more

Mother & Child Week launched in KP

PESHAWAR, APRIL 25, 2013: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department in collaboration with Unicef launched Mother and Child Week aimed at reaching out to those children who remained deprived of routine immunization. The activity aimed to raise awareness on the crucial issue of immunization against threatening diseases. During the week health workers, particularly Lady Health Workers (LHWs) would hold meetings with mothers in their respective jurisdictions and locate children missed during the previous immunization campaigns. Read more

Malaria still a threat causing 50,000 deaths annually

RAWALPINDI, APRIL 25, 2013: Malaria causes more than 50,000 deaths in the country, mostly in infants, children and pregnant women every year, but the concerned authorities have not been giving due attention to this threat. Various surveys reveal that Malaria is the second most prevalent and devastating disease of the country. Approximately 60 per cent of the population is living in areas where the disease is endemic. Read more

Special anti-measles campaign from 29th

LAHORE, APRIL 22, 2013: Health Secretary Arif Nadeem informed that a special anti-measles drive will be launched in the provincial metropolis from April 29 to May 5. Read more

Another 3 children die of measles in Lahore

LAHORE, APRIL 21, 2013: There is no let up in deaths of children on account of measles, as three more children became victim of the disease raising the death toll to 49 in Punjab as per official figures. There are over 100 measles patients under treatment in different government hospitals. Read more

Latvia wants to equal smoking near children with violence

MOSCOW, APRIL 25, 2013: The Latvian parliament passed in a second reading on Thursday a bill that would make smoking in the presence of children equal to an act of physical violence, the Delfi news portal reported. Read more

Senegal acts on child begging after fire kills nine in care of renegade teacher

SENEGAL,  APRIL 18, 2013: A fire in March that left nine children dead and a country in shock have prompted the Senegalese government to finally take action on the sensitive issue of the talibés, children who are forced to beg on the streets. Read more

Five year-old rape victim improving

NEW DELHI, APRIL 21, 2013: Anti-rape protesters staged fresh rallies Sunday sparked by the brutal rape of an abducted five-year-old Indian girl in New Delhi. A team of doctors at New Delhi’s top government hospital are treating the child and officials said that she was in a stable condition. Read more

Malala to make UN speech in July

LONDON APRIL 19, 2013: Malala Yousafzai will make her first public speech on her 16th birthday in New York, the office of Britain's former Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced on Friday. Read more

Malala makes it to Time's 100 Most Influential People list

NEW YORK, APRIL 19, 2013: Malala Yousafzai was the only Pakistani who made it to the annual list of 100 Most Influential People in the World released by Time Magazine on Thursday. Read more

Afghan children killed in 'NATO airstrike

KABUL, April 8: 10 children and an Afghan woman were killed by air strikes during an hours-long battle in a remote part of eastern Kunar province on the same day, senior local officials said. Read more

Fears American children are being over-medicated as ADHD rates soar

NEW YORK, April 2: Research by the Centers for Disease Control found that more than one in ten school-age children in the US has now received an ADHD diagnosis, amid a sharp rise in reported instances of the condition. Read more

Indian director Amjad Khan to make film on Malala

MUMBAI, April 5: An Indian director Amjad Khan is preparing to feature the life of 16-year-old Pakistani child activist Malala Yousufzai in his film, FP News desk reported. Read more

13 teenagers dead in blaze at Myanmar Muslim school

YANGON, April 3: A fire blamed on an electrical fault killed 13 teenage boys at a Muslim school in Myanmar`s main city on Tuesday, police and witnesses said, raising fears of a further eruption of tensions after a wave of religious unrest. Read more

Malala seals £2m deal for memoir

LONDON, March 28: Fifteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai, the child activist from Swat who caught the international media’s attention when she was shot by the Taliban last year, is penning a book on her tribulations. Read more

Trafficking of children for physical exploitation, slavery and servitude is now a crime

New Dehli, March 21: After a long struggle staged by the civil society organizations and anti child labor organizations, the Parliament of India has passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2013. This Bill has replaced the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 that was promulgated on February 03, 2013.  Read more

Global Campaign for Education: Interactive session with Child Rights Clubs

ISLAMABAD, 26 APRIL 2013: Pakistan needs professional and qualified teachers with a system that ensures transparent and merit based recruitment of educationists. The government needs to take practical steps to implement Article 25 A of the Constitution which ensures compulsory education for all children. This was stated by participants to mark the ‘Global Campaign for Education’ organized at the SPARC head office in Islamabad on April 26, 2013. Read more

Training workshop for students

ISLAMABAD, APRIL 18, 2013: SPARC organized a one day training for CRC members in Islamabad. 17 students and six teachers from Khaldunia High School, ICAS, Khatoon e Fatima School, IMCG and IMCB participated in the training. Read more

Spring Tree Plantation Campaign by SPARC

ISLAMABAD, APRIL 12, 2013: SPARC in collaboration with Capital Development Authority has organized a one day Tree plantation campaign at Trail 3, Margalla Road Islamabad. The main objective of this activity was to raise awareness amongst children and adults about the importance of greenery. Read more

Orientation Session with District Judiciary Lahore

LAHORE, March 29: SPARC organized an orientation session with District Judiciary Lahore on Human Right in collaboration with Lahore High Court Bar Association. Participants of training including Additional Sessions Judges and Judicial Magistrates together with two female judicial officers dealing with juvenile cases in Lahore. Read more

Training workshop for all DICs

MULTAN, March 18: SPARC has organized three days training workshop on "Working with Street Children  Effectively" for all Drop In Centers staff members of SPARC from 15-17 March in Multan. Read more

30 schools renovated by SPARC

PESHAWAR, March 15: Early recovery project of SPARC successfully renovated 30 girls’ and boys’ schools, in flood affected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (Nowshera and Charsada).SPARC’s ERP aims to retain and enroll drop out and financially poor children to school and to renovate flood affected government school buildings. Read more

Separate courts needed to save children at risk

PESHAWAR, March 13: Speakers at a workshop have recommended establishment of separate and independent courts under Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Act, 2010 to provide relief to the children in conflict with law and those at risk. Read more

Sparc wants government to take notice of corporal punishment in school

PESHAWAR, March 12: The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) has asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to take notice of corporal punishment in both government and private schools across the province. Read more

SPARC reopens 11 closed schools in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD, February 16: Drop in Center of Society for Protection of Rights of Child (SPARC) has succeeded in reopening of 11 schools in Hyderabad alone out of hundreds which remained closed since long. One of these schools is situated at Laloo Lashari village on the bank of Phuleli canal that feeds the irrigation water to more than 100 kilometers long belt of lower Sindh from Hyderabad to Badin. Read more

Internships completed in Peshawar University

PESHAWAR, January 19: Six students of Institute of Sociology, Social work and gender, Peshawar University have completed their internships with financial and other support of SPARC. In a ceremony held in Peshawar, each student was awarded Rs15, 000. Dr Qibla Ayaz,  Vice Chancellor, Director of Institute of Sociology Dr.Niaz and regional manager SPARC Peshawar Jahanzeb Khan were present on the occasion. Under the SPARC internship program the students conducted researches on different child rights issues.