Muhammad Asif Raza (PAS)

A report released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on March 8th showed that the number of women in employment in Pakistan and India remains among the lowest levels in Asia. The study found that the number of women in paid employment is low in Pakistan and India, while Sri Lanka and Bangladesh fare better, although still below the global average. The Economist Intelligence Unit believes that breaking down barriers to women entering the workforce is important as it can help these countries to reach their economic growth potential. The ILO report,  Towards a Better Future for Women and Work: Voices of Women and Men , revealed that only 22% and 25.8% of women in Pakistan and India were in paid employment, respectively, in 2015. This number is much higher in Bangladesh, at 41%. Sri Lanka is not included in the survey data, but official national statistics show that 34.9% of women were employed in 2015. Nonetheless, all four countries remain below the global averag...

Introduction - This paper examines the development of non-formal education (NFE) as an important sector of education in Pakistan. The term “Non-Formal Education” emerged in 1950s from less developed countries (Rogers, 2005) where it was nearly established that the formal education system was insufficient to meet the needs of modernization.NFE programmes have been used in low income countries for remedial purposes where formal education system was unable to educate all its citizens and illiteracy was a huge problem (Kedrayate, 2012). Inspired by the definitions of NFE, I was inspired to look at some of the NFE programmes in a low income country like Pakistan to see if these justified their purpose and contributed to the overall literacy of the country. Formal education in Pakistan; struggling to meet its objectives: Pakistan’s failure, in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and achieving the Education for All (EFA) targets, shows that Pakistan’s formal education sy...

Dawn's special coverage of the Sustainable Development Goals 2015-2030 continues. FROM THE NEWSPAPER Published   Sep 22, 2016 11:14am Goal 3: Good health and well-being  • Targets: end communicable diseases, achieve universal health coverage, and provide access to safe and effective medicines and vaccines by 2030  • Pakistan is ranked 149th out of 179 countries in 2015 on the Maternal Mortality Ratio Index  • New healthcare blueprint needs increased funding, efficient cross-sector linkages By Shahnaz Wazir Ali The writer is the provincial coordinator for primary healthcare and family planning programs in Sindh. She can be reached at shahnazwa.sapm@gmail.com The eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) were time-bound and quantified global targets ranging from halving extreme poverty rates to providing universal primary education by 2015. Pakistan signed off on the MDGs in 2000, however, despite all the rhetoric around policy, budg...

FAISAL BARI   PUBLISHED   ABOUT 14 HOURS AGO   10 COMMENTS  EMAIL  PRINT The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives and an associate professor of economics at Lums, Lahore. “THE car driver in front of me stopped suddenly, as did I, but the driver behind me was not able to. He hit my car pretty hard. I, as a result, bumped into the car in front of me.” This incident was narrated to me by a colleague. “I anticipated fun and games and I was not disappointed,” he continued. “All of us got out of our cars to discuss what had happened. The car that had hit me had two young people in it. I found out later in the conversation that they were both university students. The two young men started off, as I expected, by accusing me of hitting the brakes too hard. For the next five minutes I tried to convince them that it was not my fault, and according to law and all norms I could think of, ...

Delayed by nine years, the national population census is to begin on March 15 with a house listing operation. Unfortunately, even with 200,000 army personnel and 91,000 civilian enumerators at its disposal, the exercise, which will cost the exchequer over Rs14 billion, is likely to be seriously flawed. In fact, if it is allowed to proceed in the way that the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has designed it, this exercise will be looked upon as the biggest disservice to the nation. The main reason for this is that, unlike the 1998 census, this time enumerators will concentrate on conducting a nationwide headcount — involving the collection of basic demographics such as gender, age, marital status, religion — without completing Form 2A [see next tab]. This implies that significant data on disabilities, internal migration, mortality, fertility and other social indicators will be left out. It is not clear why the PBS — tasked with planning and conducting the exercise — has deci...

ROME: Pakistanis are happier than Indians once again, according to findings of a United Nations-sanctioned report released on Wednesday. Out of a total 157 countries that were evaluated, Pakistan came in at 92, while India was placed at 118. Both countries have slipped as  last year's rankings  had Pakistan at 81 and India at 117. Aiming to "survey the scientific underpinnings of measuring and understanding subjective well-being," the report, now in its fourth edition, ranks countries by happiness levels using factors such as:  GDP per capita, healthy years of life expectancy, social support (as measured by having someone to count on in times of trouble), trust (as measured by a perceived absence of corruption in government and business), perceived freedom to make life decisions, and generosity (as measured by recent donations). Differences in social support, incomes and healthy life expectancy are the three most important factors. Also read:  Pakistan now a...