KARACHI: The Pakistan Association Dubai (PAD), a non-profit organization dedicated to welfare projects for Pakistanis in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said on Friday its decision in February to collaborate with a Karachi-based education startup would benefit expatriates who have about 20,000 out-of-school children.
PAD, which has been serving overseas Pakistanis in the UAE since 1963, announced plans to work with Learn School Academy, established about four years ago to provide digital schooling to students worldwide.
The Pakistani diaspora in the UAE is the second largest overseas community and one of the oldest expatriate groups in the Arab state.
According to PAD General Secretary Zahid Hassan, about 20,000 expatriate Pakistani children currently remain out of school despite strict reservations by the UAE authorities.
“This project has the potential to make a significant impact on increasing the literacy rate and improving the lives of these children,” he told Arab News on Friday. “PAD aims to facilitate education for overseas Pakistanis in the UAE by partnering with Learn School Academy to provide online tuition to children who are unable to attend traditional schools,” he continued. “With this partnership, we believe we can add even more value for the expatriate community living in the UAE by leveraging our expertise and resources in education.”
The founding CEO of the Pakistani education startup, Wahaj Kayani, explained the high cost of private schools in the UAE was a significant barrier for many Pakistanis to provide education to their children.
“Through this partnership with PAD, we aim to provide a more affordable and accessible solution,” he told Arab News.
“This collaboration is specifically designed to help Pakistani and all other overseas communities gain access to high-quality education at a price point that works for them along with a user-friendly online school model,” he added. “The MoU [memorandum of understanding with PAD] outlines a framework for offering scholarships for online learning, enabling students to benefit from Learn Academy’s curriculum and engaging the platform.”
According to the MoU signed between the two entities, the Pakistani academy will offer a 50 percent discount to PAD, which will bear the fee on behalf of the eligible families to educate their children. Both organizations plan to operationalize their collaboration from the next month.
“We believe this initiative will make a significant contribution to educational attainment in the UAE,” Kayani said. “It will enable students from diverse backgrounds to access quality education, including modern pedagogical approaches like project-based learning. This combination of affordability and innovative learning methods can have a real impact on literacy rates and overall educational achievement.”
Hassan, on the other hand, acknowledged that one project alone could not fully meet the educational needs of the Pakistani community.
“There is a pressing need for more schools to cater to such demands,” he said. “Therefore, PAD is actively exploring the possibility of launching a dream school project in the future to provide a long-term, sustainable solution. Our volunteer education team is fully committed to working on this initiative.”
The project is also Learn School Academy’s first collaboration outside Pakistan.
In addition to the initial launch with PAD, it envisions a deeper and more expansive partnership in the UAE and beyond.
“Looking ahead, we envision replicating this successful model by collaborating with similar organizations in other countries across the globe,” Kayani said. “Our next aim is Saudi Arabia for schooling, followed by the United Kingdom and Canada for Islamic education, which we hope to execute by the start of 2025.”
“Ultimately, our goal is to empower both Pakistani communities abroad and global communities at large by facilitating access to high-quality, affordable education,” he added.
Karachi education startup to help Dubai-based association provide online tuition to expatriate children
https://arab.news/c7v92
Karachi education startup to help Dubai-based association provide online tuition to expatriate children
- The collaboration is expected to benefit the overseas Pakistani community in Dubai, with nearly 20,000 out-of-school children
- The two organizations signed a memorandum of understanding in February and plan to operationalize it from next month
Pakistani father kills daughter over TikTok account, police say
- TikTok is wildly popular in Pakistan, in part because of its accessibility to a population with low literacy levels
- Pakistani authorities have repeatedly blocked or threatened to block the app over what they call ‘immoral behavior’
RAWALPINDI: Pakistan police on Friday said a father shot dead his daughter after she refused to delete her account on popular video-sharing app TikTok.
In the Muslim-majority country, women can be subjected to violence by family members for not following strict rules on how to behave in public, including in online spaces.
“The girl’s father had asked her to delete her TikTok account. On refusal, he killed her,” a police spokesperson told AFP.
According to a police report shared with AFP, investigators said the father killed his 16-year-old daughter on Tuesday “for honor.” He was subsequently arrested.
The victim’s family initially tried to “portray the murder as a suicide” according to police in the city of Rawalpindi, where the attack happened, next to the capital Islamabad.
Last month, a 17-year-old girl and TikTok influencer with hundreds of thousands of online followers was killed at home by a man whose advances she had refused.
Sana Yousaf had racked up more than a million followers on social media accounts including TikTok, where she shared videos of her favorite cafes, skincare products, and traditional outfits.
TikTok is wildly popular in Pakistan, in part because of its accessibility to a population with low literacy levels.
Women have found both audience and income on the app, which is rare in a country where fewer than a quarter of the women participate in the formal economy.
However, only 30 percent of women in Pakistan own a smartphone compared to twice as many men (58 percent), the largest gap in the world, according to the Mobile Gender Gap Report of 2025.
Pakistani telecommunications authorities have repeatedly blocked or threatened to block the app over what they call “immoral behavior.”
In southwestern Balochistan, where tribal law governs many rural areas, a man confessed to orchestrating the murder of his 14-year-old daughter earlier this year over TikTok videos that he said compromised her “honor.”
Pakistan seeks Saudi support for desert reclamation, afforestation projects amid climate worries
- Pakistan, Saudi Arabia signed an agreement in 2022 to cooperate in nine environmental areas, including desertification and biodiversity
- Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik says he will soon visit the Kingdom to discuss climate collaboration between the two countries
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik has said that his ministry is seeking Saudi Arabia’s support for comprehensive climate projects that include desert reclamation, afforestation and carbon offset initiatives, amid Islamabad’s efforts to deal with climate-related challenges.
Pakistan has 4.2 million hectares of forest and planted trees, which equates to 4.8 percent of its total land area, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. The country is currently focusing on combating desertification through afforestation, water management and sustainable agricultural practices.
Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, is playing a leading role in global climate action and launched in 2021 the Middle East Green Initiative (MGI) that aims to mitigate climate change impacts by raising $10.4 billion for clean energy, planting 50 billion trees and restoring degraded lands spanning 200 million hectares in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
In February 2022, the two brotherly countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate in nine environmental areas, including pollution control, nature protection, forestry, biodiversity, desertification, hazardous waste management, marine conservation, air quality monitoring and environmental training exchanges.
“I am going to work directly with them [Saudi Arabia] on climate initiatives, on claiming deserts, on building forests, and on [carbon] offsetting,” Malik told Arab News in an interview on Thursday.
“I just need a little bit more time to put a package together.”
He said Saudi Arabia had always extended its unwavering support to Pakistan and he would soon visit the Kingdom to discuss climate collaboration between the two nations.
“It’s on my table right now to put together those projects with carbon offsets, or whatever those initiatives are, and take them there, which are viable, real, doable and meaningful,” Malik said.
Pakistan, home to over 240 million people, is consistently ranked among the countries most vulnerable to climate change and has seen erratic changes in its weather patterns, which have led to frequent heatwaves, untimely rains, floods, storms, cyclones and droughts in recent years.
Malik said his ministry was working on green mobility and recycling initiatives in partnership with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, particularly the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to drive climate action to benefit the poor.
“They have sent me a letter about starting a movement on behalf of the entire world south… moving the recycling kind of revolution in a manner which serves the poor people of Pakistan,” he said.
In 2022, deadly floods submerged a third of Pakistan, claimed more than 1,700 lives and affected 33 million people, causing more than $30 billion in economic losses.
So far this monsoon season, which began in late June, at least 87 people have been killed and 149 others injured in rain-related incidents across Pakistan, with the death toll expected to rise further as heavy rains continue to batter the South Asian nation.
But Malik believed the country was unlikely to face flood-like conditions similar to 2022 as the climate patterns showed a “balancing effect” between glacier melt and rainfall.
“Where the melting is increasing, the rainfalls are projected to decrease,” he said. “The signs, the projections that we have seen, the numbers that we have seen, basically show that hopefully we would have a good, decent, and manageable year.”
Speaking of Pakistan’s early warning systems, the minister acknowledged “serious gaps” in the mechanisms despite previous investments, saying efforts were underway to fix deficiencies that hinder timely disaster alerts.
“The early warning systems, after all of the investments that we’ve done… they are not able to give us warning in a timely manner… those systems are not working,” he said.
Asked about international climate funding to Pakistan post-2022 floods, Malik said the funding was declining due to Pakistan’s “limited absorptive capacity and lack of impactful projects.”
“We did not have a lot of absorptive power and even when funding was available, we did not come up with enough projects,” he said, adding that the country could only draw around $50-$70 million despite $500 million commitments.
He said his ministry had engaged youngsters from environmental sciences background to develop ideas, projects and startups to help attract international funding.
“We are going to come up with lowest cost, highest impact projects, and we are going to go after them,” Malik added.
Pakistan tenders to buy 300,000 to 500,000 metric tons of sugar
- The deadline for the submission of price offers is July 18
- Shipment sought in series of consignments loading in August
HAMBURG: Pakistan’s state agency, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), has issued an international tender to purchase and import 300,000 to 500,000 metric tons of white refined sugar, European traders said on Friday.
The deadline for submission of price offers is July 18.
On July 8, Pakistan’s government had approved plans to import 500,000 tons of sugar to help maintain price stability.
Market analysts said that retail sugar prices in the country have risen sharply since January.
The sugar is sought from worldwide origins, packed in bags with a minimum offer of 25,000 tons permitted.
The TCP reserves the right to purchase more or less than the tender volumes, traders said.
Shipment is sought in a series of consignments loading in August. The entire volume purchased must arrive in Pakistan by September 30.
Pakistan, EU sign €20 million grant deal to improve business environment, governance
- The development comes as Pakistan takes policy measures to increase lending portfolio of small, medium enterprises
- The initiative will strengthen these enterprises, green transition of export-oriented firms and facilitate green investments
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the European Union have signed a €20 million grant agreement to launch the “Better Governance and Business Environment” initiative in the South Asian country, Pakistani state media reported on Thursday.
The agreement, signed by EU Ambassador to Pakistan Dr. Riina Kionka and Secretary Economic Affairs Division Dr. Kazim Niaz, aims to enhance the competitiveness of Pakistan’s private sector, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including those led by or benefiting women.
Pakistan’s government has increasingly spoken about achieving sustainable economic growth and moving the country away from his usual “boom and bust” cycle through financial reforms, signing trade, business and grant deals with regional allies worth billions of dollars and enhancing its exports.
“The program will strengthen SME-related legislation, support the green transition of export-oriented firms, facilitate targeted green investments, and promote public-private dialogue,” the Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
The development comes as Pakistan takes policy measures to increase lending portfolio of SMEs to enhance their contributions to employment, exports and the national GDP.
These enterprises account for approximately 40 percent of the country’s GDP, 25 percent of exports and nearly 78 percent of non-agricultural employment, according to the Pakistani finance ministry.
But despite their contributions, their access to formal finance remains “disproportionately low,” with a small percentage of private-sector lending currently directed toward them
“This expansion is expected to enhance the contribution of SMEs to GDP, exports, employment, youth and women’s digital empowerment, and overall financial inclusion, laying the foundation for sustained and inclusive economic growth,” the finance ministry said this month.
“Deregulation efforts, such as reducing reliance on NOCs and increasing e-inspections, are also being introduced to reduce compliance burdens for SMEs.”
Pakistan will also use a $1.4 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund’s climate resilience fund to expand fiscal space, embed climate planning into public investment decisions and unlock private-sector capital for green projects, the IMF said last week.
Pakistani passenger, bound for Karachi, ‘mistakenly’ flies to Jeddah
- Civil aviation regulator requested to impose a ‘heavy fine on the airline that is guilty of negligence’
- No explanation yet on how the passenger cleared immigration at Lahore airport without a passport
KARACHI: In a bizarre turn of events, a Pakistani man, who was supposed to travel to Karachi from Lahore, boarded a wrong flight and landed in the Saudi city of Jeddah this week, the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) confirmed on Friday.
The passenger, Malik Shahzain Ahmed, was traveling to Karachi through a private airline, Air Sial, but instead boarded the airline’s flight to Jeddah from the Lahore airport, local media reported, citing the passenger.
Ahmed told media that immigration authorities at the Jeddah airport briefly detained and questioned him upon landing in the Kingdom without a passport and deported him to Lahore after the situation became clear.
In a statement, the PAA said higher officials had taken notice of the lapse and written letters to civil aviation regulator and the station manager.
“In the letter, the civil aviation regulator has been requested to impose a heavy fine on the airline that is guilty of negligence,” PAA spokesman Saifullah said.
The PAA statement did not offer an explanation as to how the passenger cleared immigration at the Lahore airport before boarding the Jeddah-bound flight.
In a video clip circulating online, Ahmed said he went to Lahore airport to board the Karachi-bound flight on July 8, but he “mistakenly” sat in the Jeddah-bound flight after collecting his boarding pass for the domestic flight.
“After two hours, I asked [myself], ‘This plane doesn’t seem to be landing [soon]’,” he said. “Then I got to know that I had taken boarded the wrong plane.”
