Skill development : 69,000 children to be trained in 10 districts

Six-month training programme will start in August

LAHORE: A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on Thursday between the Labour Department and the Punjab Vocational and Training Council (PVTC) for providing training to 69,000 children between 14 and 18 years of age. The children were identified during a survey carried out by the Bureau of Statistics in 10 districts in the province.

Labour and Human Resource Minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar was the chief guest at the ceremony. Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC) Chairman Faisal Ijaz Khan, Labour Secretary Nawazish Ali, PVTC Research and Development Manager Shafqatur Rehman, Project Director Saeed Wattoo and representatives of the Bureau of Statistics and the Urban Unit were also present.

The MoU has been signed in the wake of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif approving the Restriction of Employment of Children Ordinance, 2016, that declared child labour (under the age of 14) a crime.

The Ordinance will be enforced following the approval of the governor. A steering committee has been formed for the elimination of child labour at auto workshops, hotels, restaurants and petrol pumps. Sarwar will be its convener and the chief secretary co-convener.

The six-month training programme, to be started in August, will be implemented in three phases. Sarwar said he hoped that the programme would help eradicate child labour. Poverty would eventually be checked because the children trained under the programme would be able to earn their livelihoods, the minister said. He said they would be awarded certificates by the institute.

Representatives of the Bureau of Statistics told the minister that following the survey in 10 districts, the bureau was collecting data of children employed at auto workshops, hotels, restaurants and petrol pumps in 13 more districts.

The minister said a crackdown would be launched after Eid holidays on those employing children. He said Literacy, School Education, Home and Social Welfare Departments, district administrations concerned and some NGOs would be part of the campaign against child labour.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2016.