Child Labour and Poor Education System in Pakistan

Arslan Ilyas
Nov 1 · 4 min read

Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially or morally harmful.

I have read a lot of articles about this topic and want to do something for the children who don’t have any financial resource.

Children are the future of Pakistan, but some people thought that they are our servants. Its not there fault that they were born in a family whose financial condition is not good. According to the recent survey 12.5 million children of Pakistan are involved in child labor and half of them are below than ten. They also have dream to go to school, to enjoy the life like the children of rich people and to become the respectable citizen.

For children working at brick kilns in Punjab, a survey was conducted by the Punjab Labour Department. According to the latest figures of the survey, the department identified 10,347 brick kilns in Punjab and a total of 126,779 children were identified at these sites. Out of the total, the survey identified that 32,727 children were not attending schools. For the school-going children, a total of 71,373 children were enrolled in public schools, of whom 41,017 were males and 30,356 were females. A total of 13,125 children were attending private schools; 7,438 were males and 5,687 were females. As many as 9,554 children were enrolled in non-formal education institutes.

Causes

  1. Poverty & Low salaries of the earning mans
  2. Increase in Dearness
  3. High Fee in school
  4. Poor education system
  5. lack of quality education
  6. Discrimination
  7. Old mind thought
  8. lack of job
  9. low illiteracy rate
  10. Poor policies of government

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) suggests that poverty is the greatest single cause behind child labor. The low cost of child labour gives manufacturers a significant advantage.

Among all the four provinces, Punjab is considered to be having greater literacy rate but about 35 million people are illiterate at present in Punjab. Educational standards and measurements are very much low in most of the parts of Pakistan.

A very few students get access to secondary level education; most of them end up at the primary level. Also, most children cannot complete their secondary education due to poverty.

Parents force their children to work. Researches show that the child labour rate in Pakistan is higher amongst other Asian countries. Most of the girls in Pakistan are illiterate compared to boys.

Effects of Child Labor

  • A lack of a normal childhood and its pleasant memories.
  • Financial slavery.
  • Physical, psychological, and/or sexual abuse.
  • Inadequate nutrition, leading to possibly higher rates of diseases or small statures.

Remedies

If we want to see Pakistan in the list of developing countries then we should have to overcome the issues of child labor. for that the following steps should be taken

  1. Free education to deserving students
  2. Child labor should be banned
  3. Government should provide jobs to the candidates who will be on merit
  4. Proper Check & balance in government schools
  5. Quality education for poor peoples

How to improve the Education System in Pakistan

Education has moved becoming business in Pakistan. Education providers are not serving society but making money. They plan schedules and academic year to make more fees rather than educate students. First we need to introduce One education system in Pakistan for everyone. One syllabus, One system, and that system must be updated with current requirements and international standards.

Conclusion

Child labor and poor education are the two biggest problems in Pakistan. In my mega project, I will try my best to do something for the poor children. I will collect fund by going to different universities after collecting a sufficient amount I will try to help the poor children who are not going to school yet.

May Allah Almighty give me courage to do this noble act. Ameen!

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade