Children are priceless gift from God, they are most beautiful and purest creation in the world. Children are the hope and future of a nation. Yet, there are millions deprived children in our country who have never knew a normal, carefree childhood. Pakistan is regularly near the top of the list of the countries where child labor is common. One in every five children aged 5 to 17 in the world today is suffering from child labour, doing work that is damaging to their mental, physical and emotional development. From the past few years Pakistan is having serious issues which is destroying the economy of our country. Among these child labor is a very serious issue in Pakistan .The term child labour is used for employment of children below a certain age which is considered illegal by law and custom. Children work because their survival and that of their families depends on it. The population of Pakistan is estimated to be 171,297,000 with approximately 32.5% living in urban and 67.5% in rural areas. There were an estimated 3.3 million child labour in the country and that is very sad and shameful for us that in our country children sells tissue papers, pen, file folders etc outside the schools, collage, universities instead of studying. The main reasons behind the child labour continues to exist is that girls are seen as worth less than boys. In most families where children work, there is an average of 8 children and it is more likely that they would have fewer children. Pakistan suffers acutely from this malady of bonded labor. According to the US State Department’s Trafficking in Person Report in 2013, bonded labor is the biggest of Pakistan’s Human Trafficking Problem.
In most of the country children do heavy work for the sake of money. They need money for buying food, food for themselves or for their family, and also for some other basic needs like clothes, drugs, school fees etc. Can you imagine this scenario: A 10 year old boy go to a industry or factory for work because his younger sister is sick and she needs medicine. That boy does heavy work for money so that he can buy some medicine for his poor sister. That’s the scenario!
The major responsibility to stop chil labour is on the society. It starts in your home. Never make any servant do work underage. Give children free education and give them shelter and food. If we all work from our own place as far as we can, then it is possible to have a result. Never put any child to hard and heavy work in an industry. Boycott the people who are doing this and raise your voice against them. Make them know the law of crime like child labour. Raise awareness to the people. Secondly, governments can play a huge role. First of all they can making the proper law against child labour and enforce them strictly against people who are putting the children to heavy work. Governments also should assure shelter, food, education and all basic needs for children.