LAHORE: A campaign for enrollment of the children of brick kiln workers into nearby schools was inaugurated by Punjab Labour and Human Resource Minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar in Nankana Sahib on Tuesday.

Being launched with the collaboration of the International Labour Organisation, the drive aims at enrolling out-of-school children of kiln workers in schools by Oct 31.

The Punjab government will provide free education, school bags and books to the children enrolled to schools under the project.

The Punjab Labour and Human Resource Department has support of PEF, PITB, literacy, school education, local government and home departments in the enrollment drive.

Up to 35 out of school children of kiln workers from Nankana Sahib district were enrolled in the Government Model Primary School Chokhiyanwala, Nankana Sahib, on the occasion.

ILO Country Director Fransisco D’O Video, PPE Managing Director Anila Salman, parliamentary secretary Rana Arshad, MPAs Sara Iftikhar, Rana Jamil Hasan Khan, Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora, labour additional secretary Syed Mubashir Husain and representatives of employers and workers were also present.

The minister said a follow-up mechanism would be set up to ensure sustainability of schemes by monitoring through district vigilance committees.

He said the exercise would be carried out at 6,090 brick kilns in Punjab.

The labour department conducted a survey in the second week of June to identify the children of kiln workers between the ages of four and 14.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2015

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