Child labour refers to the
employment of children in any work that deprives children of their childhood,
interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally,
physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful.There is a need for
eliminating child labor in Pakistan. Child labor and child trafficking
negatively affect human capital development and the overall national development
agenda. When children do not go to school they are denied the knowledge and
skills needed for national development. Educating children, rather than forcing
them to work, could yield enormous economic benefits for developing nations,
through increased productivity and human capital. Benefits of education however
large, may not be enough to convince poverty struck families to stop sending
children to work as the concern over household survival outweighs that of
children’s future earnings, therefore this is the problem that Pakistan faces
today.
Pakistan has a per-capita income of approximately $1900. A middle class person
in Pakistan earns around $5 a day on average. The average Pakistani has to feed
nine or ten people with their daily wage. Further to that there is also the high
inflation rate to contend with. As of 2008, 17.2% of the total population lives
below the poverty line, which is the lowest figure in the history of Pakistan.
Poverty levels in Pakistan appear to necessitate that children work in order to
allow families to reach their target take‐home pay. On the side of the firms,
the low cost of child labor gave manufacturers a significant advantage in the
Western marketplace, where they undersell their competitors from countries
prohibiting child labor, often by improbable amounts.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan estimated in the 1990s that 11 million
children were working in the country, half of those under the age of ten. In
1996, the median age for a child entering the work force was seven, down from
eight years old 2 years prior. It was estimated that one quarter of the
countries work force was made up of child laborers. As of 2005–2006, it is
estimated that 37 per cent of working boys were employed in the wholesale and
retail industry in urban areas, followed by 22 per cent in the service industry
and 22 per cent in manufacturing. As for the girls 48 per cent were employed in
the service industry while 39 per cent were employed in manufacturing. In rural
areas, 68 per cent of working boys were joined by 82 per cent of working girls.
In the wholesale and retail industry the percentage of girl were 11 per cent
followed by 11 per cent in manufacturing.
Child labor in Pakistan is perhaps most rampant in a north-western province
called Sialkot, near the border with Kashmir, which is an important production
centre for exports goods such as sporting goods. Thousands of Pakistani
children, many under the age of 10, get less than 10p an hour stitching soccer
balls for export around the world. About three-quarters of all the high-quality
footballs used in international competitions are made here where child labour is
perhaps the most rampant (In 1994, it pumped the equivalent of $385 million into
the Pakistan economy) .
I think we need to educate our people and and also has to repair our damage
culture. Children are not the labour material they are for love and its their
right to get proper education and care from everyone. No one will support child
labour and use them as an instrument or tool to achieve negative goals.Thnks for
reading my article.