ISLAMABAD, Dec 24: Climate Action Forum (CAF) in collaboration with IRM and Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) has successfully hosted Post-COP30 panel discussion with a strong focus on translating global climate commitments into national policies and grassroots action relevant to Pakistan’s context.

The event brought together over 100 participants from government departments, academia/students and civil society. 

The event was graced by Khalida Bashir, Joint Secretary, Climate Finance Wing, Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination(MOCC&EC), as Chief Guest, said a press release issued here on Wednesday.

Distinguished moderators included Khalida Bashir, Joint Secretary, Climate Finance Wing, MoCC and EC, Dr. Roomi S. Hayat, Chair CAF and CEO IRM, Aisha Khan, CEO, CSCCC, Arif Goheer, Executive Director, GCISC, and Dr. Khalid Waleed, Research Fellow, SDPI with Ambassador Jauhar Saleem, President, IRS were the esteemed moderator of the panel discussion. The discussion featured diverse, intellectual, and substantive perspectives on COP30 outcomes by the esteemed panelists.

JS, MoCC and EC Khalida Bashir responding to a question regarding the loss and damage fund said, “Ministry is working on ideas to leverage this fund. NDRMF & NDMA is working in this regard and the Ministry is also seeking provincial support to strengthen the institutional capacity to channelize these funding streams.”

Dr. Hayat, Chair of the Climate Action Forum and CEO of IRM, highlighted that strengthening coordination can significantly improve climate action in Pakistan. He emphasized the need for better integration of scientific research, technical data, and indigenous knowledge to enhance responses to climate shocks. He also noted that engaging civil society would greatly improve the efficiency and impact of climate action initiatives.

Arif Goheer, ED GCISC responding to the progress of NDCs mentioned, ‘Last 2 NDCs were delayed, they were submitted one year delayed from their deadline, however, this time we tried our best to meet the deadline which was 2025 and submitted them right in time before the COP30 this year’

CEO, CSCCC Aisha discussing regarding the COP30 outcomes stated, “We do not have limited resources for climate action, what we need to do is to translate those promises to protection and ground for the communities that are the badly hit by the climate change.”

Dr. Khalid Waleed furthered the discussion with the mention of Just Transition and Belem Political Package and added, ‘The Belem Political Package at COP30 this year was based on ‘Mutirão’ which means collective action. COP provides this multilateral platform to discuss local problems with global context. In terms of Pakistan, Institutional Mutirão should be given priority.’

The session highlighted the importance of Post-COP dialogues in linking international agreements with local priorities. As many  practitioners, policymakers, and communities are not directly involved in COP negotiations, such forums are crucial for unpacking outcomes, fostering critical reflection, and ensuring that global agreements are understood, owned, and meaningfully followed up at home.

ISLAMABAD, DEC 24 /DNA/ – At the invitation of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, will undertake official visit to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on 26 December 2025. This will be his first visit to Pakistan as the President of United Arab Emirates. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including Ministers and senior officials.

During the visit, His Highness will hold a meeting with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, where the two leaders will review the entire spectrum of bilateral relations and exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest. The visit will provide an important opportunity to further strengthen the longstanding brotherly relations between Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

The visit of High Highness reflects the depth of bilateral relations between the two countries shared commitment of both sides to further enhancing collaboration in key areas, including trade, investment, energy, development and regional stability.

ISLAMABAD, DEC 24 /DNA/ – The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) convened a policy seminar to examine Pakistan’s transition to a Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) based curriculum and assessment system, with a particular focus on how national policy frameworks are being implemented in classrooms across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). The seminar explored why outcome-based reforms, despite being fully operational in examinations, continue to face significant challenges at the teaching and learning level.

The seminar was moderated by Dr. Faheem Jehangir, Dean (Policy), PIDE/PD, and RASTA, who steered the discussion toward the broader policy relevance of education reforms and their implications for human capital development and long-term economic outcomes.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Aliya Khalid, Senior Departmental Lecturer at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, and Principal Investigator of a multi-year research project on SLO implementation in Pakistan. Drawing on international literature and Pakistan-specific evidence, Dr. Khalid explained that SLO-based reforms are part of a global movement aimed at shifting education systems away from rote memorization toward conceptual understanding, skills development, and application of knowledge. However, she cautioned that such reforms only succeed when curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and teacher support are coherently aligned.

Tracing Pakistan’s reform trajectory, she outlined how SLOs were first introduced through the National Curriculum 2006 and mandated in textbooks under the National Education Policy 2009, followed by provincial ownership after the 18th Constitutional Amendment. She noted that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa emerged early as a reform leader, redesigning teacher training around outcome-based pedagogy, while later unification under the Single National Curriculum extended SLOs nationwide. The most consequential shift, she argued, occurred between 2023 and 2025, when federal and provincial examination boards moved decisively toward fully SLO-based, textbook-independent assessments.

Presenting preliminary findings from extensive fieldwork, she highlighted a persistent policy-to-practice gap. While examinations have rapidly transitioned to concept-based testing, many teachers particularly in resource-constrained schools continue to struggle with teaching without prescriptive textbooks and with limited training in formative assessment. This misalignment has contributed to sharp declines in pass rates at Grades 9 and 10 in several government schools, raising concerns about student overload, equity, and long-term participation in education, especially among vulnerable groups.

The research adopts a systems-thinking approach, combining policy analysis, curriculum and examination review, and in-depth interviews with teachers, head teachers, and education experts. The findings suggest that late-stage enforcement of SLOs at high-stakes examination levels has exposed cumulative learning gaps from earlier grades, rather than sudden failures at the secondary level. Dr. Khalid emphasized that sustainable reform requires earlier introduction of outcome-based learning, realistic curriculum depth, continuous teacher support, and feedback mechanisms that reflect classroom realities.

Adding to the discussion, Dr. Nadeem Javaid, Vice Chancellor PIDE, stressed that education reforms must be firmly rooted in Pakistan’s contextual realities rather than relying on imported frameworks. He noted that teaching culture, parental expectations, language policy, and entrenched power dynamics significantly influence classroom practices, often shaping how reforms are absorbed or resisted. Drawing on international examples, he observed that high-performing education systems are guided by clearly defined national objectives for basic education, while Pakistan continues to lack clarity on what its system ultimately seeks to produce. Referring to global evidence on the future of work, he emphasized the growing importance of creativity and critical thinking in the age of digitization and artificial intelligence, urging policymakers to align curriculum reforms with future workforce needs rather than narrow content coverage. He also cautioned against simplistic public–private comparisons, arguing that governance, accountability, and trust in public education institutions are central to improving learning outcomes.

The seminar also underscored the project’s strong policy engagement component. Beyond academic outputs, the research team has actively worked with education departments, contributed to public discourse through national newspapers, and supported the development of practical teacher training resources. As part of this engagement, structured SLO training modules for Grades 9 and 10 teachers are being integrated into provincial learning management systems, combining short instructional videos, assessments, and certification to strengthen classroom implementation.

The discussion was led by Dr. Ahsan Ul Haq Satti, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Economic Modeling and Data Analytics (CEMDA) at PIDE, who commended the study for shifting the reform debate from policy intent to policy experience. He noted that SLOs are now fully embedded in board examinations, making it imperative to identify the most binding constraints in pedagogy, sequencing, and institutional support. Dr. Satti emphasized that many implementation challenges reflect system-level pressures such as overloaded syllabi and high-stakes exams rather than teacher resistance.

The seminar concluded with an engaged question-and-answer session, reflecting broad agreement that while SLO-based education is demanding and complex, it remains central to improving learning quality, equity, and workforce readiness in Pakistan. Participants stressed the need for evidence-informed sequencing, sustained teacher development, and realistic expectations to ensure that outcome-based reforms translate into meaningful learning gains rather than unintended exclusion.

DNA

BANNU: Bannu Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sajjad Khan said on Wednesday that 27 cops were martyred in 134 terrorist attacks targeting personnel in the district in 2025.

He made the remarks while addressing a press briefing at his office, where he gave a detailed breakdown of the overall law and order situation in the district and operations carried out against terrorist elements.

According to the DIG, Bannu police conducted comprehensive, well-organised and result-oriented operations against militants.

He said the data showed that during 2025, a total of 134 terrorist attacks targeted police stations, police posts, checkpoints, police mobiles and police parties.

In these attacks, 27 police personnel were martyred, while 79 sustained injuries. In retaliatory action by police, 53 terrorists were killed and 163 were injured, he said.

The DIG said that Bannu police carried out 168 intelligence-based operations across the district, resulting in the arrest of 105 terrorists and the elimination of 65 terrorists. Overall, successful action was taken against 170 terrorists, he said.

He further stated that police and security forces jointly conducted successful operations in the areas of Miryan, Haved, Daud Shah, Mamand Khel and Domel. During these joint operations, one police constable was martyred while 11 police personnel and five civilians were injured, he said.

As a result of these operations, 22 terrorists were killed and four were arrested, and several terrorist hideouts and houses were also demolished.

He also said that terrorists had carried out 20 drone attacks targeting police installations and civilian populations, in which 19 police personnel were injured. Further, nine civilians were martyred and 33 were injured, he said.

However, following the installation of an anti-drone system on July 18, a significant improvement was observed, with over 300 drone attacks thwarted and four drones neutralised.

DIG Khan said that despite limited resources, various security measures were implemented to protect police installations, including the installation of barriers, bunkers, double boundary walls, bullet-proof gates and CCTV cameras.

He said that work had also begun on the Safe City Project to further enhance the safety of both police personnel and the general public.

He added that for coordinated action against terrorists, jirgas were held with local elders in different areas, yielding positive results, and peace committees were formed.

With public cooperation, militant attacks on several police stations and checkposts were successfully thwarted, while effective operations were carried out in Kakki, Bharath, Khojri, Bargantu, Sheikh Landak, and other areas, he said.

According to the DIG, in order to align Bannu police with modern requirements, the force had been equipped with drones, anti-drone guns, sniper rifles, armoured personnel carriers (APCs), thermal imaging systems, tactical helmets and bullet-proof vehicles.

He reaffirmed his commitment that Bannu police would continue its struggle to maintain law and order in the district, efforts to eliminate terrorism, and ensure the protection of the lives and property of the public.

Saifullah Ansar

ISLAMABAD, DEC 24 /DNA/ – The Islamabad district administration has declared a public holiday in the federal capital on December 26 in view of the arrival of a high-level foreign delegation led by the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The decision was taken to facilitate security arrangements and official engagements during the high-profile visit.

According to official sources, the UAE president will arrive in Islamabad with a large delegation comprising senior government officials and business leaders. During the visit, several bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding are expected to be signed, aimed at further strengthening cooperation between Pakistan and the UAE in key sectors including investment, energy, defence, and infrastructure.

The visit comes at a significant time in regional diplomacy and follows the recent overseas engagements of Pakistan’s army chief, including his visit to Libya. Diplomatic observers note that regional security and defence cooperation are likely to feature prominently in discussions, particularly in the context of emerging geopolitical developments.

Reports circulating in international media have also linked the timing of the visit to broader regional defence dynamics, including a reported multi-billion-dollar arms deal involving Libya. The UAE is known to support General Khalifa Haftar’s faction in Libya, a factor analysts say adds strategic importance to ongoing diplomatic engagements.

Security across Islamabad will be tightened, with special traffic and security plans to be implemented during the visit. Authorities have advised citizens to cooperate with law enforcement agencies and follow official advisories.

ISLAMABAD, DEC 24 /DNA/ – Chairman, Higher Education Commission (HEC), Nadeem Mahbub visited the National University of Technology (NUTECH) on the invitation of its Rector Lt. Gen. (R) Moazzam Ejaz. The visit aimed to review the University’s rapid progress in technical education and its contributions to national industrial growth. He was accompanied by Executive Director HEC Dr. Zia Ul Haq.

The Chairman was given a comprehensive presentation highlighting the University’s strategic milestones, research initiatives, and recent achievements. Following the presentation, the Chairman and Executive Director visited various academic departments, laboratories, and specialized sections of the University.

Chairman HEC Mr. Nadeem Mahbub commended NUTECH’s commitment to quality education and its efforts in producing a skilled workforce that meets international standards. He noted that the University’s focus on applied research and industry integration is vital for the economic development of Pakistan. He lauded the institution’s infrastructure and its dedication to fostering an environment of creativity and technical proficiency.