‘No solution to child labour possible without appreciating ground realities’

Karachi
Kamil Ali, 11, was previously doing odd jobs to help his poor family eke out a living. He could not attend school and was a source of earning for his large family, including four younger siblings. He is now studying at the Riazul Uloom Welfare Trust, where he is offered both secular and religious education along with food, shelter, health care and stipends.
Speaking about the child, Waris Hussain, the general secretary of the trust, told The News on Thursday that ‘World Day against Child Labour’ marked on June 12 was nothing more than a formality in the country.
“Not only Kamil, but there are many children subjected to child labour who have approached us to lead a better life,” he said. “Regrettably, both the governments and society have failed to resolve the problem, which is growing ever day.”
He said some parents did not bother to look after their children and they were only dependent on the centre.
Muhammad Shahid, owner of an auto workshop, said he did not want to allow children to work at his workshop, but the families of children working as mechanics compelled him to hire them.
“I also want these children to study, but their families urge me to let them work here as food is a higher priority for them than education,” he said.
Social activist and IT specialist Zia Khan said the ever-growing population of the country was not letting society control child labour. He suggested that religious seminaries could be utilised to shelter those children.
“There are thousands of children living in seminaries, but few of them are providing state of the art education, which is the need of the hour,” he said.
Expressing his idea to counter child labour, he said computer education should be promoted as it could be a source of earning for many children through a white-collar job.
“We are training thousands of youths to hunt the online market and many of them have stood up on their feet to support their families.”
Khan said the government needed to open more vocational centres where children could learn technical and computer skills so that they could earn some money for their families without indulging in intensive labour.
“We must realise that we are living in a developing country where a huge population is running out of even food,” he said. “You cannot convince a child to study when he finds his family out of food. It is the prime responsibility of the government to provide basic necessities to every citizen, but it has failed to perform this basic task.”
Bashir Farooqui, the chief of the Saylani Welfare Trust, said the Saylani Mass Training & Job Creation Programme was producing 1,000 online developers to counter intensive child labour and technical skills were imparted to let them lead a better life.
He said the trust was looking after 12,000 children and target killings in the city were leaving many children helpless.
Gada Hussain Abro, a lawyer and human rights activist, said the child labour laws had been adopted from developed countries and there was a dire need to make the necessary amendments according to the ground realities.
“Anyone less than 18 years of age is not allowed to work in a factory according to the law, but it is not practically implemented,” he said. “The age limit must be reduced to 14 years and a law should be introduced to allow specific working hours for the children between 14 and 18 years.”
He said the definition of child labour should also be revised as children working in agricultural fields or going for shipping in leisure hours was a part of their training and it did not come under the definition of child labour.