Another day, another war!

Challenges faced by children in Pakistan.

By Warda Malik

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
― Nelson Mandela

Indeed, a wise man, Nelson Mandela, spoke of education as a powerful weapon – A weapon which would determine our sense of security in the world out there. This is rightly the weapon which would help any child fight his war of life. Should a child be denied this righteous key to freedom and security? A child’s right makes it a state’s duty which needs to be accomplished.

Pakistan, the state of forgotten hopes and dreams, is also a home to children for whom every day of school is like diving in the sea without knowing how to swim. Pakistan has the second largest out of school population with an alarming number of 5.1 million children and a devastatingly high illiteracy rate.

Those children who have the privilege of taking this bold step are denied access to proper academic training and inadequate facilities, for example, no proper play grounds, lack of hygienic facilities in rural areas, low teacher attendance, biased administrative staff, lack of awareness on children psychology etc.

Without doubt, these naïve children suffer unfairly at the hands child-sex abuse. This problem has largely been left unchecked being regarded as a sensitive subject matter.  They are not even aware of what exactly is happening to them whereas it is the school’s ultimate responsibility to teach them on how to protect their body parts at the hands of such molesters. Shockingly, many teachers are found to be the very soul part of sexual abuse and many blackmail them to keep their mouths shut.

Truly, child is meant to learn, NOT to earn. The educational system of Pakistan is rapidly deteriorating and needs to undergo a considerable amount of development in order to polish the inner personality of a child rather than to destroy it and to make education accessible to all the children. Every one of us deserves to be given a chance. A chance for a better tomorrow. A chance that would make us believe that this world is not such a merciless place, after all. 

Child Labour- the lethal weapon breaking the backbone of our economy By Shireen Gul

While reading newspaper or listening to news bulletins, we usually come across the term ‘child labour’. This compound of words refers to the employment of young children (i.e. of or younger than 12 – 13 years of age) in work that hinders their education, deprives them of their childhood, dignity and potential, and is hazardous to their health. Statistics show that an estimate of 246 million children have been plunged into this curse, with 70%of them working in highly perilous conditions, for e.g. in the mining industry and the chemical industry. Though its presence in developed countries cannot be denied (in which, around 30% of the world’s child labour cases have been found), this scourge is typical of developing countries.

Being one of developing countries, the curse of child labour is endemic in Pakistan. Though statistics for child labour in the country cannot be estimated with precision due to lack of reliable data,the survey of Federal Bureau of Statistics shows that out of a total population of 40 million children, 3.8 million suffer from this affliction. However, these figures omit the children who are not registered with the government: results from another agency (SPARC, 2009) show that approximately 23 million children are victims of this plague.

There are countless factors which contribute to the prevalence of child labour in the society. Poverty is at the top of the list. Children are thought of as vital sources which could possibly supplement their parents’ income, which can be expected to be the case in a country where 33% of the people live below the poverty line. The issue of over-population, adds to this, as addition of family members put greater financial pressure on the family, which, in turn, is released to some extent by sending young children to work in factories, workshops, or at houses as servants. Moreover, ignorance instigates people to apprehend education and under-rate its benefits, which results in their preference to send their children to work over sending them to school. The lack of proper follow up on legislation regarding child labour on part of the government has also contributed to the persistence of the issue.

The economic effects of child labour in Pakistan are various and far-reaching. Whereas on one hand it provides sufficient work force for less technical industries , allows poor households to fulfil their petty needs and benefits the employers financially as they pay lower wages to unskilled child labourers than to grown up labourers, it has devastating effects on an economy as a whole in the long term. To begin with, the country has been deprived of potential growth which could have resulted from the availability of an educated and trained workforce.  Thus, local and foreign investors look towards foreign professionals for skilled jobs, which, on one hand, has resulted  in lower profits for the investors as foreign professionals have to be paid more than local ones to entice them to work in Pakistani industries , and on the other hand, waned the chances of foreign investment.

Furthermore, child labour has diminished living standards of Pakistan. In economics, Human Development Index is considered to be a significant tool to measure living standards of a country. This strategy holds that adult literacy rate, i.e. the rate of individuals attending colleges and universities is a significant bench mark for determining the living standards of a country. Obviously, when one cannot attain primary education, the question that one will enroll in a secondary or professional institute is quite meaningless. The lower the living standard of a country, the weaker is its international economic position. Thus, child labour is one of the factors responsible for the lean economic position of Pakistan.

Moreover, the international reputation of a country can be marred by child labour, which can cause the international community to sanction trade embargoes with the countries where the terrible crime is practiced. Pakistan has suffered from this in the case of sports industry, many countries banned the imports of her footballs, which led to huge losses, as the banned goods contributed immensely towards earning revenue for the country in the form of exports.

Other than that, the economic effects of child labour on the individual himself of herself are quite debilitating. Because of not attending schools and participating in academic activities, the victims of child labour often suffer from reduced mental ability, which makes it difficult for them to adjust to technological changes in the industry once the skill they possess becomes obsolete, thus, leaving them unemployed and vulnerable to becoming poorer.

Though child labour has some immediate positive consequences, its destructive effects on the long-run are innumerable. In order to mitigate the plight of those engulfed by the menace, the government should try to implement the laws passed on child labour more effectively, and together with the NGOs, should continue to educate the people on its harmful effects.