Policy considerations for ending child labor in Pakistan

'If people want us to go to school instead of work, they must give us the money to do so
and make schools better. Then we would stop stitching. Who wants to injure their
fingers?"
-An out-of school working girl in Pakistan

This brief statement summarizes the challenge Pakistan faces in eliminating its problem
of child labor. The millions of children who work to support their families in often
hazardous conditions and cannot go to school do so for a number of reasons. If Pakistan's
leaders and policy makers are serious about developing a strategy that seeks to end child
labor, it must take a number of factors into account. There is no one easy solution.
• First, they must be aware of the scope of the problem by properly identifying
Pakistan's child labor force. Although estimates vary considerably, generally
speaking, the number of only male working children in Pakistan is more than 19
million. This is four times Singapore's total population. There are more working
children in rural areas, where close to half of the villages' 10- to 14 year-olds
work. The age of Pakistan's child laborers entering the work force is also
decreasing: the median age is now seven.
• Second, leaders and policy-makers must be aware of how prevalent child labor
really is and that it is usually not work which is an obstacle to these children
going to school. Rather it is poverty. These children's families live in poverty and
cannot afford to educate them.
• For example, in a survey of Pakistan's sports goods industry, over 72 percent of
workers who did not attend school did so because they could not afford school
fees.
• In contrast, work generally did not prevent child laborers who were better off
from studying. Over 20 percent of these child workers attended school.
• Since many working children are too poor to afford schooling, any laws that aim
to ban child labor must be simultaneously implemented with an anti-poverty plan
 that eases poor families' burden. For example, working children who attend
school must at least be partially compensated for lost income.
• One example where such an initiative was attempted was in Bangladesh. The
Independent Garment Workers Union there provided children who lost jobs in the
apparel industry with free books and hot lunches at school. However, the cost of
subsidizing all households for child labor wage losses would probably be very
expensive.
• A third factor leaders and policy makers must take into consideration is the need
to create a proper and effective educational system. This will have a farther
reaching impact on the fight against child labor than direct attempts to regulate
the labor market.
• Child labor often represents parents' carefully thought out rejection of an
education system that is usually irrelevant to their child's future.
• For example, in the above-mentioned survey in Pakistan, 24 percent of children
did not attend school because the low quality of the education offered there did
not teach them useful skills they could practically use in the future. Children's
enthusiasm for attending school would be greater if classroom teaching was
linked with their life experiences as working children. They could be taught what
kinds of work are hazardous and advised on how to recognize the tactics of
exploitative employers for example.

Finally, policy makers must learn from the experiences of NGOs' and civil society
organizations' innovative initiatives in education. Virtually all attempts to bring working
children out of their usually dangerous workplaces and into schools have been through
non-formal programs. These are independent of the formal education system and are not
only cost-effective, thus ensuring a better chance of enrolment of children from poorer
families, but also feature life-skills based curriculums that are relevant to students.
Although such programs fill an important gap, they do not absolve the formal education
system of providing good and accessible education to all children.
Leaders and policy makers must realize that the education process in Pakistan has fuelled
the problem of child labor. The current challenge is to make all schooling cost-effective
for the government and more important, poorer families, attractive and relevant to the
needs and aspirations of working children and their families. With such a system in place,
parents may not only be able to afford schooling for their children, but they will very
likely rethink the opportunity cost of sending children to school versus work.