06-13-2006, 01:41 AM
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Child labour inevitable?
Poverty making families depend on childrenâs income
By Afnan Khan
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p...2-6-2006_pg13_8
LAHORE: Child labour in Pakistan is not a choice but an inevitability, and underprivileged children are deprived of their basic rights including education because of financial constraints.
Daily Times talked to a number of families with working children about the International Day Against Child Labour on Monday. Widows, and disabled or poor parents said they had no choice but to send their children to work rather than school because of poverty.
A widow from Ichhra told Daily Times she lived in a rented house with three daughters and a son and her husband had died of cancer five years ago. She said she belonged to a religious family and could go out to work, but she sewed clothes at home, which earned her Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per month. She said her son Ali Ahmed was an apprentice to a motor mechanic, and had no choice but to work. She said she did not know how to get the Rs 500 Zakat being given by the government, and that the sum was too small to make a difference.
She said it was impossible for thousands of parents like her to send their children to school despite free education, because they could not survive without the childrenâs income. She said if the government would ban child labour, she would either have to commit suicide or become a prostitute. If the government was serious in educating children, it must eliminate poverty, she said.
Abdul Kareem, a daily wage labourer who lost his legs in an accident a few years ago, said he had two sons who worked at a tandoor. He said it was impossible for him to send his children to school without an alternative income source.
The government should pay a Rs 5,000 stipend and free shoes, uniforms and transport to schoolchildren if they wanted to increase literacy.
Safia, a garbage collector, said she was 8 and had never been to school. She said she wanted to make friends, play with dolls and go to school but could not because her parents were poor. She said she did not know where her father was and she collected papers from the garbage with her mother and sold them to a junkyard owner.
âThe government has failed to eradicate child labour and ensure free education,â said Muhammad Asif, a human rights activist from South Asia Partnership. The government was busy developing âexcessive military mightâ instead of focusing on education, he said, although it had signed the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Children (CRC) in 1991. He said there were more than 10 million child labourers in Pakistan, but the government said there were only 3.3 million.
The government should create appropriate atmosphere for childrenâs education and it was the stateâs responsibility to compensate parents, Asif said.
Social Welfare Minister Zubaida Jalal was not available for comment. Provincial Social Welfare and Special Education Secretary Tauqeer Ahmad said the Punjab government had taken a number of measures for promotion of education.
He said the Child Protection Bureau (CPB) was educating hundreds of beggars in collaboration with the UNICEF from Lahoreâs streets but it was not possible for the government to bring up their families. The CPB, he said, had facilitated the return of 80 children kidnapped and made child jockeys in the Middle East.
Tauqeer Ahmed said the Punjab government was running several orphanages for protection and education of orphans and lost children.
Home | Lahore
Child labour inevitable?
Poverty making families depend on childrenâs income
By Afnan Khan
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p...2-6-2006_pg13_8
LAHORE: Child labour in Pakistan is not a choice but an inevitability, and underprivileged children are deprived of their basic rights including education because of financial constraints.
Daily Times talked to a number of families with working children about the International Day Against Child Labour on Monday. Widows, and disabled or poor parents said they had no choice but to send their children to work rather than school because of poverty.
A widow from Ichhra told Daily Times she lived in a rented house with three daughters and a son and her husband had died of cancer five years ago. She said she belonged to a religious family and could go out to work, but she sewed clothes at home, which earned her Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per month. She said her son Ali Ahmed was an apprentice to a motor mechanic, and had no choice but to work. She said she did not know how to get the Rs 500 Zakat being given by the government, and that the sum was too small to make a difference.
She said it was impossible for thousands of parents like her to send their children to school despite free education, because they could not survive without the childrenâs income. She said if the government would ban child labour, she would either have to commit suicide or become a prostitute. If the government was serious in educating children, it must eliminate poverty, she said.
Abdul Kareem, a daily wage labourer who lost his legs in an accident a few years ago, said he had two sons who worked at a tandoor. He said it was impossible for him to send his children to school without an alternative income source.
The government should pay a Rs 5,000 stipend and free shoes, uniforms and transport to schoolchildren if they wanted to increase literacy.
Safia, a garbage collector, said she was 8 and had never been to school. She said she wanted to make friends, play with dolls and go to school but could not because her parents were poor. She said she did not know where her father was and she collected papers from the garbage with her mother and sold them to a junkyard owner.
âThe government has failed to eradicate child labour and ensure free education,â said Muhammad Asif, a human rights activist from South Asia Partnership. The government was busy developing âexcessive military mightâ instead of focusing on education, he said, although it had signed the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Children (CRC) in 1991. He said there were more than 10 million child labourers in Pakistan, but the government said there were only 3.3 million.
The government should create appropriate atmosphere for childrenâs education and it was the stateâs responsibility to compensate parents, Asif said.
Social Welfare Minister Zubaida Jalal was not available for comment. Provincial Social Welfare and Special Education Secretary Tauqeer Ahmad said the Punjab government had taken a number of measures for promotion of education.
He said the Child Protection Bureau (CPB) was educating hundreds of beggars in collaboration with the UNICEF from Lahoreâs streets but it was not possible for the government to bring up their families. The CPB, he said, had facilitated the return of 80 children kidnapped and made child jockeys in the Middle East.
Tauqeer Ahmed said the Punjab government was running several orphanages for protection and education of orphans and lost children.
Home | Lahore