ISLAMABAD, Nov 20: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Thursday called for a proactive public-private sectors’ partnership for the sustained development of children.

Speaking as chief guest at a function held on the Universal Children’s Day at the Convention Centre, he said: “The government alone cannot take care of the increasing number of children in the country, therefore the private sector has to step in so that our children can have a prosperous future.”

Students of different educational institutions attended the function organized by the women’s development, social welfare and special education ministry.

Living within limited resources, the government was taking every possible step for the better future of children, he said and added: “But the ground realities where most of the households in the country have seven or eight children demand something extra from both the public and private sectors.”

The government was alive to its responsibility, he maintained but emphasized the need for dealing with the problem of population explosion on a war footing.

“The government will divert all resources at its disposal for accelerated development in the key social sectors and strive for a full implementation of plans aimed at securing the rights of children and improving their lot,” he said.

While launching the national campaign for children, the president signed a pledge urging the stakeholders for concerted efforts and mobilizing the masses for the better future of children.

“We have performed well in the filed of child labour and hundreds of children have been taken to schools in Sialkot district. Our endeavour has won international appreciation,” he said.

He said resources had to be diverted to population planning for better child care. He regretted that girls were not given proper food as compared to boys due to the customs of the patriarchal society. “How can we have a healthy nation when girls are not provided adequate food,” he said.

He said the National Commission for Human Development had launched its programmes to provide education to all the children in 60 districts.

Gen Musharraf said 700,000 to 800,000 students were studying in religious schools, who ended up as prayer leaders. He said they needed formal education, so that they could also become doctors and engineers like others.

He awarded cash prizes to the students who presented skits and tableaus on the occasion.

The prime minister’s adviser on women’s development, social welfare and special education, Nilofar Bakhtiar, said 34 per cent of the children in the country never went to school, 38 per cent were malnourished and 28 per cent were born with low weight. She said 11 per cent of the children in the country were disabled, 3.3 million were working as child labourers and 150 of every 1,000 died during their birth.