Sindh’s children deprived of basic rights, say speakers

Children, parents demand end to child labour, marriage, corporal punishment

HYDERABAD: Children and their parents called for the abolition of child labour, child marriage and corporal punishment in schools and boarding houses at an event marking Universal Children's Day in Benazirabad.

The local community also urged the government to bring out-of-school children to schools and bring the standard of education on a par with that of private schools.

Numerous children from different schools and their parents gathered on Tuesday at the HM Khoja Auditorium and conveyed their demands in their speeches and through tableaux. The Hari Welfare Association, Child Rights Movement Sindh and the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research organised the programme that also attracted teachers, civil society, peasant activists, writers and media persons.

Syeda Khadija, a schoolteacher, said that a majority of the children in Sindh's rural and urban areas are still deprived of their basic human rights for survival such as access to education, healthcare and child protection.

Despite challenges, the government is taking incremental steps to educate children and for their wellbeing, said Benazirabad deputy commissioner Nouman Siddique. "There is a realisation now that all the stakeholders should work in concert to ensure the healthy growth and development of children in Sindh," he said.

In the tableaux, children raised slogans such as 'No Child Labour', 'No Child Marriage' and 'No Punishment'. The tableaux and interactive theatre also highlighted the social problems pertaining to children such as the effects of early child marriages, various threats that children confront in society, kidnapping, child labour, lack of education and health issues.

The day is being observed to sensitise the society about the rights of children and to suggest solutions to the problems and challenges affecting these children, said schoolteacher Sajida Babar.

The speakers also demanded the construction of 10,000 new primary schools by 2017 to provide education to around six million out-of-school children in the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2016.