To the Editor:
Subject: The Stolen Childhood of Our Children
I am a student of Class VIII at Bahria College Karachi NORE-1, and through your esteemed newspaper, I wish to draw urgent attention to a matter that is silently damaging the health, happiness, and future of our children.
What kind of future are we building if our children spend more time in traffic and classrooms than in their own homes? If they eat more junk food than fresh, home-cooked meals? If their bodies are tired, their eyes are heavy, and their minds are too exhausted to dream?
Every school day in our city, young children leave home when the streets are still dark and return long after lunch hours. Some travel for hours in overcrowded vans, their schoolbags heavier than their shoulders can bear. By the time they reach home, they have no time for rest, play, or even a proper meal.
I met an eight-year-old boy recently who quietly told me, “I don’t like going to school anymore because I am always tired.” Her mother admits she gives her pizza or fries for dinner, not out of neglect, but out of desperation for her child to eat something before bed. But this “something” is slow poison — sugar, oil, and salt that erode health bit by bit. We are feeding our children into illness and calling it love.
And when these children want to play, where can they go? Our country barely has enough safe parks or open playgrounds. All we see are concrete walls, buildings, and endless rows of houses. Children are trapped between school desks and living room sofas, with no fresh air, no space to run, and no freedom to enjoy the most natural part of childhood — play.
Health experts warn that children need adequate sleep, timely meals, balanced diets, and daily physical activity to grow. We, as a society, are denying them all four. We are raising students who may pass exams but will fail in health, strength, and happiness.
This crisis needs urgent solutions:
• Shorter School Hours – Reduce the school day to a maximum of 5 hours for younger students to allow rest, family time, and timely meals.
• Healthy School Meals – Parents should ensure that children are provided with fresh, balanced, and nutritious home-prepared lunches, including fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, instead of relying on fried, processed, or junk food.
• More Green Spaces – Governments and city planners must prioritize creating safe parks and playgrounds in every neighbourhood.
• Parent Education – Launch awareness campaigns about the dangers of junk food and the importance of balanced diets.
• Safe & Efficient Transport – Schools should arrange better-managed transport routes to cut down travel time for students.
If we do not act now, we will create a generation educated only on paper, but too unwell to live that education. Our children deserve a childhood filled with health, play, and joy — not exhaustion, traffic, and illness.
Sincerely,
A deeply concerned student of this generation
Ayesha Almz
Nazimabad, Karachi
0334-4804624
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