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...We
can not even begin to imagine the way millions of children live in “mud
houses”. Sky is the shelter for the homeless, when they fall asleep all
alone and cold in the arms of darkness. Most
of them die at the time of their birth while others in their early years
due to some fatal disease. Most of these children are not only
victims of child labour but have to undertake Herculean tasks in
order to earn a few rupees. No one knows their names or where they go
away. Is this our nation’s hope for a better future? |
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T Y P E S O F C H I L D L A B O U R |
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G I R L S E R V A N T S |
| Domestic service is a unique aspect of child labour issue.
It is unique in the sense that unlike other forms of child labour, practically
the entire society is involved in domestic child
labour. The child often works continuously, the duties may stretch over the
entire day except for a few sleeping hours, in return for which the employer
offers food, shelter and old clothes. While working for a household the child
may be safer in terms of load and nature of work but this form of child labour
is particularly vulnerable to child abuse, ranging from verbal to sexual abuse.
According to the SPARC State of Pakistan's Children 1998-89, their tasks
included cleaning the houses (89%), washing dishes (64%) and clothes (42%). A
small percentage was found to be taking care of babies and cooking. Almost 90%
of girl servants were punished if they did not work efficiently or spoilt
something. 53% were threatened with dire consequences, while many were verbally
abused. Between 10 to 15 percent were beaten or hurt by their employers. Besides
physical and mental abuse, many of them were not even given food at their place
of work. 39% were never provided any relief by the employers in case of serious
injury or sickness. |
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J I H A D C H I L D R E N |
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Poverty and religion is an explosive mix. If you cannot afford to bring up your child, what better way out than to put him in the service of religion. The seminaries (madrassas) have been playing an increasing role in training the children for jihad against unseen enemies of Islam (that somehow seem to stalk only Pakistan). A typical jihad child lives in a madrassa from the age of 5 to 15. Not many recognise this as a form of child labour, giving the child a narrow education, one that is basically unchanged from the eleventh century. This education has no science and no mathematics, which produces a child with a narrow mindset. A person who does not question, and who can be easily motivated into fighting to death. |
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R A T C H I L D R E N |
| The rat children, far from being a natural phenomenon, are deliberately deformed by the people at the shrines who take them from their parents. Once the process is complete, several years later, they are sold off as beggars. The myth says that if the parents do not give up their first born to the shrine, he or she will be born a chuha/rat or all their subsequent children will be disabled. Many illiterate women who pray at the shrines to be blessed with children are brain washed with this concept of rat child... |
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B R O K E N H O M E S |
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A child rejected by his parents shows abnormal behaviour. This case may also happen in presence of either of the following conditions: |
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| Any one of the above situations is called a broken home. This is also prevalent in the poor of our society. The situation of these children is worse as they have no one to turn to and no shoulder to cry upon. Their relatives who also live in miserable conditions cannot do much… In such a situation the child is rejected or deprived of parental affection which creates emotional disturbance leading to aggression. These children exhibit the following behviour in general: | ||
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Click below for a comprehensive article on Child Labour |
| CHILD LABOUR |