THE state of children in Pakistan is pathetic as compared to the children dwelling in other countries.

The Constitution of Pakistan clearly states in Article 25 that every child should be given free education till the age of 16 years whereas the ground reality is exactly the opposite.

According to a recent survey by UNICEF, almost 6.5 million children are out of school in Pakistan. Such a high ratio presents a grim picture of our society where we can not educate our children. As a result, child labour is high in Pakistan.

Most of the children who cannot attend school are seen collecting garbage on the streets, while many others work at tea stalls and in factories.

Employers deliberately search children for their garages and shops because they have to pay the latter much less in comparison to adults.

Families with low-income use their children as a source for making much-needed earnings.

It is time that the government as well as society woke up from its deep slumber to weed out child labour from Pakistan.

Rehan Detho

Shikarpur

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2014