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CHILD LABOR IN PAKISTAN

Many countries facing the problem of child labor. More than 217 million children
work in different areas such as underground mines, factories, houses, stone cru
shing, working with coal dust, carpet weaving, working with live electric wires,
wool industry, furnaces, fire work explosives and automobile workshops.
The main objective of this article is to determine the seriousness of this issue
in Pakistan: to bring awareness to the society about this forbidding practice o
f misusing human power, and how child labor is affecting the future generation o
f this country.

Child labor in domestic service is very common and acceptable. It may be paid or
unpaid work. It takes place in the home and duties include cleaning, cooking, b
aby sitting and caring among many other small and big chores. Domestic work is p
redominantly the domain of female child laborers. These children work long hours
, do not go to school and many of them are separated from their parents for long
periods of time.
A Rapid Assessment (RA) on child domestic labor by SPARC in Islamabad (Capital)
and four provincial capitals based on selected localities covering 2,492 househo
lds in 2004; reveals that every fourth household in Pakistan employs children fo
r domestic purposes. Majority of these 62 percent were girls. However, there wer
e distinct provincial variations in the prevalence of female child domestic work
ers. In Peshawar and Quetta, the proportion of girls was lower than in Lahore, K
arachi, and Islamabad/Rawalpindi. The KPK and Baluchistan are relatively conserv
ative regions and do not encourage female mobility and employment.
This study is aimed to make the people realize their duty as the citizens of Pak
istan and the responsibility they hold towards the coming generations and to wor
k towards solving the issue of Child Labor, though this issue cannot be solved a
s a whole but if we work as a nation we might be able to improve the current sit
uation and decrease the percentage of child labor in our society.

The basic cause of child labor in developing countries is considered to be pover


ty; [Irfan (1981), Khan (1982), Levy (1985), Hussain (1986) Bequele and Boyden (
1988), Ahmed (1990), Noman (1990-91), Boyden (1991), Awan (1992), Grootaert and
Kanbur (1995)]. However, poverty alone is not responsible for the practice (Ray
1999). A number of other factors also affect the supply of child labor in develo
ping countries including Pakistan. Child labor contributes to further poverty by
pushing down the wage rate in the labor market.
More recently, Grootaert and Kanbur (1995), Basu and Van (1998), Basu (1999), Ba
su et al. (2000) have emphasized the link between household s struggle to survive
and the incidence of child labor. According to Boyden (1991), the economic viabi
lity of the households depends on placing as many members as possible in the lab
or market. While discussing the child s contribution to the household s total income
, Ray (1999) concludes that the share of child earning in the household s total ea
rning is considerably higher in Pakistan than Peru. Baland and Robinson (2000) h
ave developed a model, in which they incorporate inequality between families. Ri
ch families do not send their children to work, whereas poor families do. So pov
erty is a major determinant of child labor. Taimoor (2010) discusses the existen
ce of poverty in a household that pushes a child to work. Taimoor (2013) unaffor
dability of educational expenses leads parents their child work.

The National Child Labor Survey, conducted in 1996 by the FBS, showed that out o

f 3.3 million working children, 1.94 million children between the age of 5-14 we
re active in working Punjab, 0.3 million in Sindh, 1.06 million in Khyber Pakhtu
nkhwa and 0.01 million in the Balochistan.
Fassa et al. (1999) opined that child labor can bring negative effects on health
and development of children, as many of those children working in mining or fac
tories are working in hazardous conditions.
It s mainly a problem faced by the developing countries, but it is possible to fin
d child workers in developed countries. According to Ahmed Faisal Imtiaz Siddiqi
, Simple greed, on the part of employers, is one of the key causes of child labor
(Delap 2001).Unscrupulous employers always tempt to take on workers that are eas
iest to exploit. The most defenseless and weakest workers, children, can usually
and easily be paid less than adults and are considerably less likely than adult
s to know their rights or to protest working environment (Basu 1998, Basu 1999).
Poverty, mother of all evils, plays an enormous role in the inception and disse
mination of child labor (Edmonds & Pavcnik 2005). Desperate for money, deprived
families around the world are helpless to push even young children to work to in
crease the family's overall income. For deprived families this diminutive contri
bution of a child's income or support at home that allows the parents to work ca
n make the difference between hunger and a bare sufficiency UNICEF (1997).

Child labor is a serious problem in Pakistan, the age when these children are su
pposed to be in schools seeking education they are working in houses, fields, an
d factories earning a living for their families. A large number of NGOs are runn
ing in Pakistan. They are trying to provide facilities to children who are worki
ng as labor in their small age

To gather information relating our article we gave out questionnaires to differe


nt students in universities. The following data has been collected after the ana
lysis of those questionnaires,
76% of the people agreed upon that children under the age of 14 will not be allo
wed to work outside their houses whereas 24% were in opinion that they may be al
lowed to work in some certain and critical circumstances.
45% people answered in positive way as they or one of their relatives have hired
children to help them with their house chores, while 55% responded with a No.
61% consider hiring children under 14 as domestic help, for giving them a better
life as they believe that without education they wouldn t be able to do anything
else, and would be forced to work in factories which would be dangerous for them
.
52% do believe that child labor is a cruel practice but at the same time they pr
ovide children with a learning environment and they would learn a skill, while 4
8% say that it s a cruel practice.
87% people answered that child labor should be made illegal but at the same time
these children should be given proper education and put into schools, while 13%
believe that it should not be illegal as things won t change.
99% said no they will not make their children work at anybody s place instead they
would they would give their children education for a better future, while 1% sa
id yes if the need be.
40% said that it s not a compulsion for child labor in poor countries, while 60%
agreed that it is as it s the only way for the poor families to earn a living.
72% people said yes they would if the option of educating the children was provi
ded instead of making them work, while 28% people said that they pay children to
get their work done child labor is a more economical option.
89% said they would work for an NGO helping the children, while 11% responded wi
th a no.

CONCLUSION:
The result show that most of the people that are educated are against child labo
r and strongly believe that child labor stops Childs mental growth and diminishe
s their innocence, they are made to work at the age in which the other children
around them are playing and getting education. But it s a bitter reality that even
after taking all the steps and even having seminars and rallies we can t bring th
e issue of child labor to an end, reason being we are a country with more than 5
0% people suffering from poverty and illiteracy, even if they want they don t have
the money to send their children to schools and are forced to make them work fo
r a living. It s a cruel reality but this is the situation faced by most of the po
or countries in the world. The NGO s are a considered to be a helping hand in solv
ing the issue of child labor but only foreign funded NGO s are to bring some posit
ive changes in the society but unfortunately they are at a loss as most of the p
eople doubt the authenticity and credibility of these NGO s and refuse to work for
them and bring a change. To eradicate this issue of Child Labor many laws have
been passed by the Pakistani Government. Even though great efforts are being mad
e by the government but harassment is still affecting the psyche and personality
of the children.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Awareness must be raised among the people and parents should pay attentions to t
he education of the children.
Child Labor laws should be strictly put into practice.
Primary education should be made compulsory and provided free of cost.
This problem can be resolved by employing the parents and relatives of the effec
ted children.
Government should take concrete steps to eradicate child labor from the society.
Article by Sub lieutenant Taimoor Saleem
SSC (log)2014 B
PN No 9442

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