KARACHI, June 4: The Sindh government is planning to set up 10 drop-in centres for children in the city during the year and at least one of these centres would be established in the next few weeks. These drop-in centres would function as retiring rooms for children, where they could spend some time watching television and other such recreational activities. These centres would be provided with bathing facilities as well.

The information was given at a Child Rights Awareness Workshop organized by the Provincial Commission for Child Welfare and Development of the Sindh Social Welfare Department here on Saturday.

Rabia Javery of the Social Welfare Department, Qurban Ali Memon, Zulfiqar Ali, Dr Farah Iqbal, Farzana Kauser, Dr Bernadette Dean and others also spoke to the participants comprising teachers, police officials, NGO workers, journalists, social welfare department officials, etc who had come from all over the province.

The speakers termed children as one of the most important sections of the society but were of the view that unfortunately they were not given the due importance that they deserved.

They said that it was high time that awareness was created regarding the child rights so that masses gave the children their due importance.

The speakers said that a Child Protection Authority bill had been drafted and it was sent to various stake holders for their comments after which it would be presented in the assembly, and after its passage the authority would be set up.

They informed that the government had organized five workshops to create awareness regarding rights of the child in Thatta, Mirpurkhas, Khairpur, Sehwan and Larkana, besides the one being held in the city.

Some data regarding the street children was also presented and according to the data there were over 45,000 street children in the country. Poverty was the major cause owing to which they had left their homes. Majority of them came from families having between 6 to 8 children and the parents in majority of the cases were illiterate.

They said that majority of these children were drug addicts, spending up to Rs47 per day on drugs and had been sexually abused by other elder children living in their groups.

The speakers urged the government to formulate and strictly implement laws for the protection of these children.

They suggested that to discipline the children, the parents, teachers and other members of the society should not resort to extremes and try to guide the children politely and physical punishment, particularly corporal punishment, should never be resorted to discipline a child.

They said that though Pakistan was among the first two of the countries that signed the Child Rights Convention in 1990, even after the passage of over a decade and half not much had been done to formulate and implement the CRC related laws.

The speakers said that poor socio-economic conditions were one of the major hindrances in the implementation of the international conventions and that parents as well as teachers, who were often frustrated owing to their other problems, took their anger out on the weakest section of the society — the children.

They suggested that modifications in the curriculum with adequate provision for vocational training to help them in to growing as skilled and self reliant adults.

They also informed that various studies had showed in majority of the instances the victims of child abuse became perpetrators when they reach adulthood.