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Why Do Children Work?

Children across the world do hazardous work in harmful conditions that endangers their health, education, development, and lives. Millions of children work full-time at a very young age in dangerous workplaces with excessive hours and risk of abuse for little to no pay. They often cannot escape the cycle of poverty without access to education. Most child labor is due to family poverty and the need for children's income to survive, as well as lack of accessible and affordable education. Common areas where children work include agriculture, domestic work, factories, streets, construction, and commercial sex work. The tradition of child labor in Pakistan is particularly prevalent due to cultural norms of large families, high costs of living, lack of priority and funding for education

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HamailaAmbreen
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13 views

Why Do Children Work?

Children across the world do hazardous work in harmful conditions that endangers their health, education, development, and lives. Millions of children work full-time at a very young age in dangerous workplaces with excessive hours and risk of abuse for little to no pay. They often cannot escape the cycle of poverty without access to education. Most child labor is due to family poverty and the need for children's income to survive, as well as lack of accessible and affordable education. Common areas where children work include agriculture, domestic work, factories, streets, construction, and commercial sex work. The tradition of child labor in Pakistan is particularly prevalent due to cultural norms of large families, high costs of living, lack of priority and funding for education

Uploaded by

HamailaAmbreen
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Children less than fifteen years of age are made to do work that is physically or mentally harmful, and

interrupts their education and social development.

Across the world, millions of children do extremely hazardous work in harmful conditions, putting their
health, education, personal and social development, and even their lives at risk. These are some of the
circumstances they face:

• Full time work at a very early age

• Dangerous workplaces

• Excessive working hours

• Subjection to psychological, verbal, physical and sexual abuse

• Obliged to work by circumstances or individuals

• Limited or no pay

• Work and life on the streets in bad conditions

Inability to escape from the poverty cycle -- no access to education

Why do children work?

• Most children work because their families are poor and their labour is necessary for their
survival. Discrimination on grounds including gender, race or religion also plays its part in why
some children work.

• For many children, school is not an option. Education can be expensive and some parents feel that
what their children will learn is irrelevant to the realities of their everyday lives and futures. In many
cases, school is also physically inaccessible or lessons are not taught in the child's mother tongue, or
both.

• As well as being a result of poverty, child labour also perpetuates poverty. Many working children do
not have the opportunity to go to school and often grow up to be unskilled adults trapped in poorly
paid jobs, and in turn will look to their own children to supplement the family's income.
Where do children work?

• On the land

• In households -- as domestic workers

• In factories -- making products such as matches, fireworks and glassware

• On the street -- as beggars

• Outdoor industry: brick kilns, mines, construction

• In bars, restaurants and tourist establishments

• In sexual exploitation

• As soldiers

A young Pakistani girl carries a load of wool down a street in a poor section of Peshawar. Pakistan has
laws that limit child labor, but the laws are often ignored. An estimated 11 million children work in
Pakistan's factories

Causes of Child Labor.

Over Population!
Limited resources and more mouths to feed, children are employed in various forms of work.

Illiteracy!
Illiterate parents do not realize the need for a proper physical, emotional and cognitive development of
a child.

Poverty!
Many a time poverty forces parents to send their children to hazardous job.

Orphans!
Children born out of wedlock, children with no parents and relatives, often do not find anyone to
support them. Thus they are forced to work for their own living.

Unemployment of Elders!
Elders often find difficult to get job. The industrialists and factory owners find it profitable to employ
children. They will also create union problem.

Preventing Child Labor!


Primary education should be free, compulsory, well-resourced, relevant and nearby.

Brief about the tradition of child


labor in Pakistan
, Pakistan has a traditional culture where earning of one
person goes on feeding 10 mouths; and with the high rate
of inflation it becomes difficult for a low income
population to survive. Child labor is spread all over
Pakistan but has the greatest impact in the north-west of
Punjab province that is Sialkot.

   Child labor exists in Sialkot both in the export sector and the domestic sector. This fact has
been well documented and reported by the international media for several years but nothing has
been done about it. In Pakistan it is clearly documented that child labor is against the law, but the
government carries lack of willingness to do anything about it. Provision for education is very
limited, due to the fact that very low priority is given to education in the national budgets.
Education receives around 3% of the total gross domestic product when compared to over ten
times of this amount spent on military. Gender and other forms of discrmination plus adding to
the lack of political will, gives the clear picture of the existence of child labor in Pakistan.
 

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