Plan to fight child labour

LAHORE
Provincial Minister for Labour and Human Resource Raja Ashfaq Sarwar has said that every member of the society will have to play his pivotal role to eliminate the menace of child labour from society. The Punjab government has initiated a comprehensive five-year plan to combat the worst form of child labour in four districts of the province including Jhang, Layyah, Jehlum and Chakwal at a total cost of Rs. 180.832 million.
He said this while talking to Project Director Dr. Javed Gill at a meeting on Thursday. Director Child Labour Elimination Programme Muhammad Rehan Nabi and other officers concerned also attended the meeting. Programme Manager of the project, Muhammad Rehan Nabi, informed the meeting that in the 1st phase, Punjab Labour and Human Resource Department was imparting free education to over 4,200 children under the age of 14 years in its 120 non-formal education centres in cooperation with different active NGOs under the public-private partnership. In the 2nd phase, the department has launched a three-month duration literacy course and skill training programme for the students of 14 to 18 years of age in 40 Literacy cum Skills Training Centres of these four districts of the province. The department under this programme distributes free of cost tool kits for trained boys and girls according to their training trades so that these young students can earn their own living.