Pakistan has mostly been getting the short end of the stick whenever the issue of Child Labor crops up. Notwithstanding the fact that India, Turkey, and a host of other Asian and African countries have a huge pool of economically active children, the vigilant global eyes have generally focused on Pakistan. From the carpet manufacturing, then the brick kilns, then advancing to the soccer ball industry, then moving to the surgical goods makers, right up to the auto garages, the agricultural community, and even down to the domestic home scene, there is news of Child Labor being extensively used everywhere.
A study done in 1996, and which is still being widely quoted and highlighted in press, at seminars, and in official documents, loudly proclaimed that there are 3.3 million economically active children out of a total children population of 40 million. Though it may seem a pretty low number compared to the NGO-conjured up figure of over 20 million, the fact remains that it is still a substantial and depressing statistic.
The primary focus of the three social partners, i.e. government, employers, and workers, with strong cooperation and support of the ILO-IPEC, has been to eliminate Child Labor wherever prevalent. In this connection, many high-profile projects have been launched and implemented. So much so, even President Bill Clinton applauded the Pakistani program to eliminate Child Labor from the soccer ball industry.
However, the blatant fact remains that all the relevant programs are going to address only a small fraction of the whole problem. The surgical instruments program will initially cater to only 500 of the estimated 7700 children. The EU sponsored program recently inaugurated in Sindh will target only 1080. The SITE Public School in SITE, Karachi, will provide quality education to a little over 100 Child Labor. Many NGOs are striving to rehabilitate working children and their efforts will only eliminate a few thousand. At the same time, the deteriorating economic conditions, the lack of employment opportunities due to a drastic slowdown in new industrial investment, the subjugation of the industrial and business community through excessive bureaucratic controls, the external flight of precious capital, the stringent emphasis on trade barriers, the indecisiveness of policy makers, the non-chalant attitude towards human capital development, the non-availability of basic infrastructure, the lack of progressive vision of the agriculturists, the pathetic educational scenario, etc, are and will be major obstructions in ensuring whether viable and workable alternatives are available. Therefore, the imperative need arises for a fundamental revamping of the entire program for the elimination of Child Labor in Pakistan.
There is a need to create the right awareness atmosphere especially in those areas that are susceptible to Child Labor. The stress should be more on preventing the entrance of new children as Child Labor. The present policy of trying to remove already working children from the workplace and then groping around for an income substitution alternative for the family of the displaced child has not been that effective. It has more often created resentment and has also resulted in families and employers resorting to a hide-and-seek game to distract those who are out to check whether there are children working or not. The poverty alleviation programs and other grandiose schemes have not done any favors for those families whose children work to bring home some of the bread. The emphasis should be more on providing basic education facilities so that the children are not deprived of this fundamental right. More importantly, the focus should be on revolutionary changes in the governmental policies to induce an investor-friendly environment that will spur up monumental economic activity.
Unfortunately, the national policies look impressive on paper. These game plans and feasibility reports are normally made to instill a false sense of achievement in the minds of the rulers and these exercises are carried out by the bureaucracy to divert the attention of those (political/others) who rule from Islamabad. The National Education Policy envisages 90% literacy rate by 2005. To do that, the country needs another 250,000 primary school teachers, 37,000 middle school teachers, and 30,000 high school tutors. Ghost schools, ghost teachers, and ghost students are "found aplenty" all over the nation. The new millennium has commenced. Is Pakistan anywhere on the way to a true mission of universal education achievement?
The population scene is getting out of hand. 11,000 children are born EVERY DAY in Pakistan and not all of them with a silver spoon in their mouths. The parents of so many will have to decide whether to send their children to school or to work. The importers of Pakistani goods will want their purchases at cheaper rates. Manufacturers will invariably resort to farming out contracts to small industries in the unorganized sector that employ children to trim the cost. The tillers will compel the family kids to work on the fields to bring in the extra buck to sustain the household. The auto workshop "mistry" will depend on the "chota" to go under the car and do the dirty task. Buildings and bungalows will continue to be built with bricks purchased by the mason from kilns that use bonded Child Labour. And yet, nary a soul will talk about child abuse . . . . . . physical, moral, or sexual.
The most practical solution is job creation. It is through employment opportunities that there can be meaningful poverty alleviation. It is through the turning of the wheels of industry that the adults will get a chance to work and earn enough to feed their kith and kin. It is through an enlightened industrial policy that more work places can be created so that the industrialist is always on the lookout for new workers. It is through heightened industrial activity that the workers will get more pay, more benefits, and more advantages. It is through solid industrial progress that the foreign buyers will get quality products, will offer a premium price, and will come back for more goods produced under the "Made in Pakistan" logo. More importantly, only through industrialization and industrial prosperity can the menace of Child Labor be really eliminated.
Therefore, the solution to the eradication of Child Labor in Pakistan is that in the short term, the concentration should be on preventing the entry of new children in the economic activities of the country. At the same time, the government's approach should be to earmark substantial funds, initially 6 to 7% of the total development budget, towards providing universal education as well as funding teachers training. The private sector should be motivated to designate some portion of their capital towards supporting educational ventures of community-based organizations or NGOs. The most significant policy decision is to dedicate the country's efforts towards massive industrialization. Recently, the government announced that it would save Rupees TEN billion due to reduction in the domestic interest rate. The Chief Executive also announced that the Armed Forces will "give" Rupees SEVEN billion to the Treasury. The Amnesty Scheme may also net in billions for the government. Thus it is high time that most of these funds are channelized towards drastically improving the infrastructure of industrial estates that is so essentially required to make the industrial environment conducive. Furthermore, a laissez-faire attitude by the bureaucracy towards the industrialists will be so much instrumental in boosting the industrial investment in the country.
There is a need for a very substantial increase in opportunities to set up micro and small scale industries all over the country, and especially in the areas that are in close proximity to rural towns and villages. Of course, this will require a tremendous amount of willpower on the part of the government, the workers, and more importantly the small-scale entrepreneurs to set up industrial bases in remote areas. However, this is essential because it would be easier and convenient to induce the residents of these areas to set up or work in cottage industries. The policy makers should emphasize the establishment of labor intensive industries as these can achieve the desired objectives, i.e. jobs, cash, and prosperity. Pakistan can get an edge if those industries are set that can effectively capitalize on the available expertise of craftsmen, artisans, and other talented people.
There are so many capable persons who can create a host of machines and processes but who are still working on rudimentary equipment. These experts can be given facilities to improve their products thru financing of new equipment and provision of the required infrastructure. The government is establishing the Micro Credit Bank to provide loans with the ultimate aim to alleviate poverty thru the setting up of micro and small scale industries. Another viable way to introduce a large number of small industries is to set up industrial cooperatives in small industrial estates. These cooperatives can be set up for one single type of industry, for example, cloth weaving units, carpet weaving, garments, handicrafts, etc., and thru these cooperatives, the small entrepreneurs can band together for their common interest. These cooperatives can also provide auxiliary employment opportunities to accountants, security guards, van operators, housing sector workers such as masons, carpenters, painters, and there would also be a possibility for electricians, welders, lathe-operators, etc., to sell their expertise. Most significantly, these will create thousands of well-needed jobs. The target is, of course, to obtain jobs for adults so that the children go to school, play, and are not forced to earn for their families.
Child Labor can thus be eliminated in a relatively shorter timeframe if the road map provided above is assiduously adhered to. Child Labor must be eradicated at all cost. Child Labor means that the very soul of the nation has been ravished and that the petite hands and innocent minds have been ravaged for economic or personal gains. Faiz Ahmed Faiz, the poet par excellence so vividly put it:
Jub kabhi bikta hai bazaar mein mazdoor ka gost
Shahraho pe gharibon ka lahu behta hai
Aag si seenay mein reh reh kay ubalti hai na puch
Apnay dil per mujhe kaboo he nahin rehta
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March 19, 2000
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