RAWALPINDI: Like other children, Mohammad Bilal wakes up early every morning. But instead of heading to school, he sells garments at a stall to earn a living for his family.

The 11 year old stallholder in Raja Bazaar wanted to go to school, but earning money to help his mother is more important to him. “I have two sisters and a brother, and I help my mother earn for our family,” he said.

He said he left school in the fifth grade and started selling garments in Raja Bazaar. “I earn Rs250 every day and I work six days a week,” he said.

Amanullah Khan, 12, sells shopping bags at Bara Market. “I help my father earn a living for out 12-member family. Education is important, but earning money to run the kitchen is more important – at least for my family,” he said.

He said he wanted to study, but there were no schools he could attend in the evenings, after he was done working.

The two boys are just some of many children in Rawalpindi who work in markets and bazaars to earn a living for their families, instead of fulfilling the provincial government’s claim that it has brought all children into schools.

Despite claiming that it has launched informal schools for working children, the provincial government has failed to bring these children to schools.

PTI MPA Arif Abbasi said the ruling party has not made the required efforts to bring children to schools in the city. He said the government should impart education, as well as technical education, to working children so they can receive an education and help their families earn a living.

The Rawalpindi education department, however, claimed that it brought 132,000 children into government schools in 2015, against the 120,000 children target set by the Punjab government.

Executive district officer (EDO) Qazi Zahoorul Haq told Dawn that the provincial government launched the Universal Primary Education Campaign in the province, which aims to enroll out-of-school children between five and nine years of age.

Under the programme, schoolteachers visited areas near their schools to bring out-of-school children into schools by persuading their parents.

He said books and uniforms were provided to the children for free, and added that the programme was run effectively. However, Mr Haq failed to explain why so many children were still on the streets after the education department claimed it had enrolled 132,000 out-of-school children.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2015