Child labour thrives with no govt check

The NewsPK PESHAWAR: Despite being considered exploitative by many international organisations and even after being declared illegal, child labour continues in our society without any check by the government. Those working for eliminating the child labour said in the rural areas children worked in the fields as bonded workers and often go under-paid. In fact, they are often employed in return for only food and shelter that they get from the employer families. “The three most contributing factors behind this issue are poverty, illiteracy and parents’ authority over the children’s choice of work and wages. The social status, lack of proper skills and the ignorant attitude of the members of the society also plays a major role,” said Assad Ali Qureshi, a child rights activist who has run a project in the past in bid to improve the lot of the children by carrying out extensive advocacy. He said the laws existed but their implementation did not reach the children engaged in the labour.Another child rights activist Qudsia Bano said many a time the wages were paid to the parents for the work done by children. “In our society it is considered non-exploitative if a child below a certain age works to earn a living for the family,” she said.Qudsia Bano has worked in the central districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan, Swabi and Nowshera. Jehanzeb Khan, head of Society for Protection and Awareness of the Rights of Child (SPARC), whose organisation launched a week today in connection with the International Day against Child Labour, said Employment of Children Act (ECA) should be amended to make it more effective. He believed legal protection to the children working in the informal sector such as agriculture and domestic work was the need of the hour. Saood, a 10-year-old child who works as a domestic servant with a family in Mardan, presents a classic case study of the situation of child labour. His other nine siblings are also working at different places. The child belongs to Sehray area of Shankar village in Mardan district and is sixth in number age-wise out of 10 children of poor parents. Saood is a Grade 2 student at a government school. He works part time as domestic worker. When asked why he had to work and stayed at others’ houses than his own home, he said innocently: “I don’t get the same food at my own home that I have at the employer’s house. Here I get meat and other delicious things to eat while at home I only take a loaf of bread with curry all the time.” According to Saood, his father is a lazy man and his mother a housewife. He is a child with so many talents but he does not have the opportunity to utilize them in a proper way.Saood likes going to school but the only thing that impedes his desire for study is the fear of beating by teachers. “I like studies and want to become an Army officer to earn a lot of money and have a luxurious life,” he remarked when asked about his career in case he managed to complete his education.