KARACHI:
Forced labour, slavery and debt bondage are some of the many forms of child labour existing in Pakistan. According to published estimates, more than 12.5 million children across the country have been forced into child labour. Many researchers claim that the major reason that such cruel practices are still prevalent is because of illiteracy coupled with extreme poverty — which together form a wicked problem.
It is a sad reality that in most underdeveloped nations, the lower class is unable to understand the importance of education. For them, education is merely a luxury that they cannot afford. Instead, parents force their children to work from a tender age in order to support the family. Recently, rising inflation has also compelled many parents to use their children as bread earners.
In 1991, the Employment of Children Act had received the assent of the President of Pakistan. This law prohibits the employment of children in certain occupations and regulates the conditions concerning work for children. In addition, the Punjab Restriction on Employment of Children Act, 2016 is yet another law that aims to protect children from exploitative practices. However, despite the existence of such acts, the menace of child labour in still rampant throughout the country. This means that the problem lies not in the law itself, but in the actual ground-level implementation of it.
It is about time that authorities realise that children are the future of this country. The government needs to enforce the law in letter and in spirit in order to eradicate this menace from the country once and for all. The government should come up with incentives that help encourage parents to send their children to school rather than make them work for long hours.
Alisha Rafiq
Kasur
Published in The Express Tribune, March 18th, 2021.
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