The Curse of Child Labor

    Image courtesy of the International Labour Organization 




The Curse of Child Labor 


by

Samand Khan Baloch 

During my childhood days it seemed strange when I used to see children of my age group collecting rappers, working in hotels, running refreshment stalls, working in other places and begging on street signals instead of having books in their hands, while I was merrily going to school. 

I used to curse their parents inside my heart who instead of educating their children forced them to work. At that tender age I was still unaware of the roots of the problem. Despite the manifold benefits of education it is hard to convince poverty-struck families to stop sending their children to work as they are often dependant on the child`s earning for their house to hold survival.

Although in the modern world child labor has been discouraged and International organizations working in the field have succeeded, to an extent, in decreasing its rate considerably compared to past levels, child labor still continues to exist throughout the world, especially in developing countries, this problem has not been tackled in a proper way. 


In Pakistan, according to Mannan Rana, child and adolescent protection specialist at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), up to 10 million children are still working. These future torch-bearers are themselves kept in darkness regarding child labor. There are different causes of child labor such as poverty, illiteracy, the unemployment of elders but, above all, are those who are willing to exploit children by hiring them as workers, ignoring human rights, child protection acts and related governmental laws. 


Child labor deprives a child of his or her childhood. It physically and mentally tortures children creating an inferiority complex for life. It effects the personality-building process of a child leading to an incomplete and shattered life.  

In this globe, we all should play our creative roles for eliminating this evil from human society. The governments must ensure implementation of the laws for ending child labor. Awareness campaigns should be launched against child labor, using other arts like music and dramas for campaigning. Free education should be mandatory at the primary level. Consumers and corporations must boycott items produced via child labor. Jobs, instead of being provided to children should be offered to the adults within the family. But all of these will not be effective until measures are not taken to decrease poverty itself, which remains  the underlying root behind all child labor.

    

Samand Khan Baloch firmly believes in children`s rights. His motto is that darkness does not  exist. It is only dark when there is no light. Here he sheds "light" by illuminating us on the root-causes, rather than the symptoms, of child labor. Samand` favorite films are Mughal-e-Azam and Lion of the Desert. His major interest is the pursuit and acquisition of Knowledge. He studied at the Cadet College Mastung.