CHILD LABOR IN PAKISTAN

God has given human beings the boon of wisdom and discretion to think upon the signs of the universe and to draw conclusions. That is the reason why they disclose the hidden facts of it and its structure and have made remarkable progress in many walks of life. Children are the flowers of heaven. They are the most beautiful and purest creation of God. They are innocent both inwardly and outwardly. No doubt, they are the beauty of this world. Early in the morning when the children put on different kinds of clothes and begin to go to schools for the sake of knowledge, we feel a specific kind of joy through their innocence.

But there are also other children, those who cannot go to schools due to financial problems, they only watch others go to schools and can merely wish to seek knowledge.It is due to many hindrances and difficulties; desperate conditions that they face in life. Having been forced to kill their aspirations, dreams and other wishes, they are pressed to earn a living for themselves and for their families. It is also a fact that there are many children who play a key role in sustaining the economically life of their family without which, their families would not be able to make ends meet. These are also part of our society who have forgotten the pleasures of their childhood. When a child in addition to getting education, earns his livelihood, this act of earning a livelihood is called as child Labour. The concept of child Labour got much attention during the 1990s when European countries announced a ban on the goods of the less-developed countries because of child Labour.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines child Labour as:

1- when a child is working during early age
2- he overworks or gives over time to Labour
3- he works due to the psychologically, socially, and materialistic pressure
4- he becomes ready to Labour on a very low pay

Another definition states:

“Child Labour” is generally speaking work for children that harms them or exploits them in some way (physically, mentally, morally or blocking access to education),
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund(UNICEF) defines “child” as anyone below the age of 18, and “child Labour” as some type of work performed by children below age 18. (UNICEF)

Child Labour is an important and a serious global issue through which all and sundry countries of the world are directly or indirectly affected, but, it is very common in Latin America, Africa and Asia. According to some, in several Asian countries’ 1/10 manpower consists of child Labour. In India the number of children between the ages of 10-14 has crossed above 44 million, in Pakistan this number is from 8 to 10 million, in Bangladesh 8-12 million, in Brazil 7 million, whereas their number is 12 million in Nigeria.

In Pakistan children aged 5-14 are above 40 million.During the last year, the Federal Bureau of Statistics released the results of its survey funded by ILO’s IPEC (International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour). The findings were that 3.8 million children age group of 5-14 years are working in Pakistan out of total 40 million children in this age group; fifty percent of these economically active children are in age group of 5 to 9 years. Even out of these 3.8 million economically active children, 2.7 million were claimed to be working in the agriculture sector. Two million and four hundred thousand (73%) of them were said to be boys.

During the year 2001 and 2002 the government of Pakistan carried out a series of consultation of tripartite partners and stakeholders (Labour Department, trade unions, employers and NGOs) in all the provinces. The objective was to identify the occupations and the categories of work, which may be considered as hazardous under the provisions of ILO Convention 182. As a result of these deliberations, a national consensus list of occupations and categories of work was identified, which is given below:

1. Nature of occupation-category of work
2. Work inside under ground mines over ground quarries, including blasting and assisting in blasting
3. Work with power driven cutting machinery like saws, shears, and guillotines, ( Thrashers, fodder cutting machines, also marbles)
4. Work with live electrical wires over 50V.
5. All operation related to leather tanning process e.g. soaking, dehairing, liming chrome tanning, deliming, pickling defleshing, and ink application.
6. Mixing or application or pesticides insecticide/fumigation.
7. Sandblasting and other work involving exposure to free silica.
8. Work with exposure to ALL toxic, explosive and carcinogenic chemicals e.g. asbestos, benzene, ammonia, chlorine, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, caustic soda, phosphorus, benzidene dyes, isocyanides, carbon tetrachloride, carbon disulphide, epoxy, resins, formaldehyde, metal fumes, heavy metals like nickel, mercury chromium, lead, arsenic, beryllium, fiber glass, and
9. Work with exposure to cement dust (cement industry)
10. Work with exposure to coal dust
11. Manufacture and sale of fireworks explosives
12. Work at the sites where Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) are filled in cylinders.
13. Work on glass and metal furnaces
14. Work in the clothe printing, dyeing and finishing sections
15. Work inside sewer pipelines, pits, storage tanks
16. Stone crushing
17. Lifting and carrying of heavy weight specially in transport industry ( 15b kg and above)
18. Work between 10 pm to 8 am ( Hotel Industry)
19. Carpet waving
20. Working 2 meter above the floor
21. All scavenging including hospital waste
22. tobacco process ( including Niswar) and Manufacturing
23. Deep fishing ( commercial fishing/ sea food and fish processing
24. Sheep casing and wool industry
25. Ship breaking
26. Surgical instrument manufacturing specially in vendors workshop
27. Bangles glass, furnaces

Now we can easily imagine in the light of above mentioned facts and figures how the nation’s future namely children are deprived of pleasures of life, ignorance has reduced their abilities of thinking right or differentiating between right and wrong, as well as their life-chances, to their non-access to education. It is true that child Labour is not an isolated phenomenon.

It is an outcome of a multitude of socio-economic factors and has its roots in poverty, lack of opportunities, high rate of population growth, unemployment, uneven distribution of wealth and resources, outdated social customs and norms and plethora of other factors. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) the daily income of 65.5% people of Pakistan is below 2 U.S. dollars a day. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Report, 47 million people in Pakistan are leading lines below the line of poverty, whereas the Social Policy Development Centre (SDPC) Karachi has stated in one of its reports that the ratio of poverty in Pakistan was 33% during 1999 that increased in 2001 and reached 38%. The ratio of poverty in the current year is around 30%.

Consider the point that if 30% of our country’s total population is leading life below the poverty-line wherein the people are deprived of basic necessities of life like clothing, shelter, food, education and medication, the children of these people will be forced to become Labourers or workers in order to survive. Another reason of child Labour in Pakistan is that our people don’t have the security of social life. There is no aid plan or allowance for children in our country. Class-based education system is another reason for increasing child Labour; villages lack standardized education systems and as a result, child Labour is on increase in rural areas. The government has not put its laws into practice to stop child Labour in our country. Employers after exploiting child Labour, extract a large surplus, whereas child Labour, despite increasing poverty, unemployment and other problems, are pressed to do anything and everything for their livelihood and the survival of their families.

Child Labour is a complex problem which demands a range of solutions. There is no better way to prevent child Labour than to make education compulsory. The West understood this a long time ago. Laws were enacted very early to secure continued education for working children; and now they have gone a step forward, and required completion of at least the preliminary education of the child before he or she starts work.

Martin Luther as back far 1524 sent a letter to German Municipalities insisting it was their duty to provide schools, and the duty of parents to educate their children. In Sweden, a royal decree in 1723 instructed parents and guardians to diligently see to it that their children applied themselves to book reading. In Europe, one country after another; Scotland, Prussia (1817), Austria (1869), France, United Kingdom (1880) and Italy made education compulsory. In 1872, Japan became the first non-Western country to make elementary school education compulsory with the declaration by the Meiji Govt.

The present government in Pakistan has made elementary education compulsory. Along with this, the government has distributed free books in primary schools so that parents, who cannot afford their children’s school expenses, send their children to schools. The major point is that this decision must be acted upon at all levels. There is strict need to stop child Labour in this country. Awareness must be raised and the attention of parents ought to be diverted to the education of their children. Child Labour Laws should be put into practice strictly. In addition, the educational system of the country-must be reshaped and restructured according to national development goals. The orphans and other deserving children must be helped financially on a prolonged basis. It is also essential to eliminate child Labour from the country, that the political, economical and social system of the country are need to be reshaped and such steps taken that make child Labour in this country a crime. They should bring on the well-being of a lay man, good governance and end to exploitative thinking. If we succeed to act upon these principles, our country can easily get rid of this problem i.e. child Labour. The agreement that has recently been approved by Pakistan, Norway and ILO to eradicate child Labour must be given importance and we hope that our rulers must put this agreement into practice using all means at their disposal.

Education around the globe is considered as the defining feature of economic and social development. Pakistan on the supply side has clearly lagged behind in provision of adequate educational resources and consequently on the demand side has failed in creating a clear demand for education. However, it is important to realize that the problems which hinder the provision of education are not just of mismanagement by government but some of them are deeply rooted in the social and cultural orientation of the people. Overcoming the latter is difficult and would require a change in attitude of the people until then universal primary education is difficult to achieve.

Many reasons could be attributed to it:

Gender Discrimination

Major factors that hinder enrollment rates include opportunity cost, poverty, cultural constraints, illiteracy of parents and parental concerns about safety and mobility of their daughters. The economic benefits from schooling are particularly doubtful for girls as society approves of Pardah. Also, since girls have a labor force participation rate of only 4.3% of total population (Tahir et.al, 15), the returns to education seems minimal. Female enrollment rates are low as schooling system is considered to have a bad impact on girl’s character. Society’s emphasis on girl’s modesty, protection and early marriages may limit family’s willingness to send them to school. Enrollment by rural girls is 45% lower than that by urban girls; while for boys the difference is of 10% only, showing that gender gap is another factor (Lloyd 106). There exists a positive relation between enrollment and household incomes. Recent studies have shown that income shocks (death of family member or animals) affect enrollments, with greater impact for girls (Lloyd 102).

Cost Of Education

The cost of education is another determinant for parents to decide whether to send their children; to government schools, private schools or no schools. Cost of education has increased further due to increased inflation. Educating a child in public school costs twice to society as would cost in private school. Although private schools appear cheaper but government fees appear “free” to parents, however society bears the cost by paying taxes (Andrabi et.al 40). Societal “cost of learning” is lower in private schools, but private schools are located in richer settlements only. The paradox is that private schools are better but not everywhere and governments schools ensure equitable access but do not provide quality education.

Returns to Education - A Misconception

The issue with non-achievement of primary education to all is due to the low enrollment rate coupled with very low retention rate; especially for girls. Geeta Kingdon, in “Education, Skills, and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Pakistan” explained that returns to education are significantly greater for women than men in almost all occupations. This could be due to scarcity of educated women nevertheless; women actually earn less than men because of lack of equal opportunities. Moreover, returns to wage employment as well as returns to self-employment increase with the increasing years of education for both genders. This implies the presence of misconception of education having negative returns due to the forgone income. Thus there is a strong need to make the students and their parents aware that returns to education increase with an additional year of education.

Thus, to improve the cynical condition of education in Pakistan not just provision of education has to be focused upon by the government but the problems of demand side of education needs to be addressed as well. Only then could there be a hope for higher enrollment rates accompanied with proper retention and low drop outs rate. Parents and society in general has to reshape its preferences and thinking about education for the system to improve. And to supplement this government has to provide the resources along with diverse opportunities to provide proper returns to education. Equality of opportunities where returns of education could be compensated is the key to fix the demand side problems of education.

Since the earliest times, humans have needed to be sensitive to their surroundings to survive, which means that we have an innate awareness of our environment and seek out environments with certain qualities.
First of all, humans have a strong need for safety and security and look for those attributes in their environment. We also look for physical comfort, such as an environment with the right temperature. In addition, we seek an environment that is psychologically comfortable: for example, environments that are familiar, but offer the right amount of stimulus.
Retailers and the hospitality industry know this very well and try to provide an atmosphere that creates a positive customer experience and offers three important attributes: comfort, safety, and entertainment. These attributes are equally important in healthcare as well.
Below are just a few examples of how the environment can impact you.

• The environment can facilitate or discourage interactions among people (and the subsequent benefits of social support). For example, an inviting space with comfortable chairs and privacy can encourage a family to stay and visit with a patient.
• The environment can influence peoples' behavior and motivation to act. For example, a dingy corridor filled with extra hospital equipment will invite staff to leave another item in the hall, whereas a clean corridor and adequate storage will encourage staff to take the time to put the item away.
• The environment can influence mood. For example, the results of several research studies reveal that rooms with bright light, both natural and artificial, can improve health outcomes such as depression, agitation, and sleep.

What about stress?

Perhaps most importantly for health, the environment can create or reduce stress, which in turn impacts our bodies in multiple ways. This is because our brain and our nervous, endocrine, and immune systems are constantly interacting. As neuroscientist Candice Pert puts it, "What you are thinking at any moment is changing your biochemistry."
Thus, the stress of a noisy, confusing hospital room might result in a patient not only feeling worried, sad, or helpless, but experiencing higher blood pressure, heart rate, and muscle tension. In addition, hormones released in response to the emotional stress could suppress the patient's immune system, causing his wounds to heal more slowly.
Stress is an important medical consideration, and creating an environment that reduces stress is a key piece of improving health outcomes.
For more information on stress and how it impacts the body, see Mind-Body Therapies.

What is the evidence?

There is a great deal of very rigorous research that links the physical environment of hospitals to health outcomes. According to Ulrich and Zimming, authors of the 2004 report, The Role of the Physical Environment in the 21st Century Hospital, there are more than 600 credible studies that show how aspects of healthcare design can influence medical outcomes.
Essentially, this research shows that the conventional ways hospitals have been designed contribute to stress and adverse patient and staff outcomes. Poor design can adversely impact health and wellbeing, as well as staff productivity and ability to deliver great patient care. For example, because of poor design, nurses in most hospitals spend a great deal of time just gathering the material they need for care. One study showed that almost one-third of nursing staff time was spent walking. (Ulrich, p5.)
On the other hand, improving the physical environment can make healthcare settings less stressful, safer, and better places to work.
Experts in the new area of evidence-based design have identified five environmental attributes that can have a large impact on health outcomes. The research demonstrates that improvement in these areas reduces stress and improves patient outcomes:

• Increase connection to nature. Many studies produce strong evidence that even three to five minutes of contact with nature can significantly reduce stress and have a complex impact on emotions, reducing anger and fear and increasing pleasant feelings. This effect can be achieved by providing: views to the outside, interior gardens or aquariums, or art with a nature theme.
• Offer patient options and choices. This increases the patient's sense of control, which can significantly lessen stress. Options include the ability to: adjust lighting and temperature, choose music, select places to sit, and control the timing of meals. In addition, better wayfinding (signs and information about where to go) reduces disorientation and helps patients feel in control, as does better hospital layouts that allow frail patients to be more independent in getting around.
• Enhance social support. There is extensive evidence that social support from family and close friends has important benefits. For example, studies show that social support improves recovery in heart patients, and emotional wellbeing and quality of life in late-stage cancer patients. Social support can be enhanced by providing waiting rooms and lounges with comfortable furniture that can be arranged as desired, designing patient rooms to accommodate visitors, and making it comfortable for visitors to stay overnight.
• Reduce environmental stressors such as noise, glare, and poor air quality. Noise causes stress (as evidenced by increased heart rate and blood pressure and reduced oxygen levels in the blood in both adults and babies) and is related to adverse medical outcomes. Good design can reduce noise from paging systems, equipment, alarms, roommates, and staff by reducing the sources and by increasing sound absorption.
• Provide pleasant diversions. In one example, heart surgery patients in intensive care who viewed nature (landscape scenes) reported less anxiety/stress and needed fewer pain medications than a control group with no pictures. Diversions may include: artwork of nature (not abstract art), fireplaces, videos of nature, and aquariums.

Mirpur Khas

Great dist. in subrub of THAR Mirpur Khas (Urdu/Sindhi: میرپور خاص) with a population of 124,371 (1981), is a south eastern Pakistani city, fourth largest in the Sindh Province. Its soil is fertile and it is very popular for its mango cultivation. There are more than 250 varieties of mangoes found in this region. History Literally, phrase Mirpur Khas means The land of the most high Mirs. The town was founded by Mir Ali Murad Talpur. After its foundation in 1806, the capital of Mankani Talpurs was shifted from Keti Mir Tharo to Mirpurkhas. The Mirpurkhas remained capital of Talpur Mirs of Mirpurkhas until 1843 when Sindh was annexed to British India under East India Company. Later Sindh was made part of Bombay Presidency and it included Mirpurkhas as well. After British annexation, Umerkot was made district headquarter town. The importance of Mirpurkhas later increased again with the advent of railway and the opening of Jamrao Canal in year 1900. The district headquarter was shifted to Mirpurkhas in 1906. During Talpur period the town had three hundred shops and its population was about ten thousands. Mir Sher Muhammad Talpur built a fort here. The Kutchery has a tablet which reads: "The fort within which this building stands was residence of Mir Sher Muhammad Khan the Lion of Sind." Site its all about Mirpurkhas Location It lies on the Let Wah Canal at latitude 25� 24' N and longitude 69� E. It is connected by rail and road with Hyderabad and by road with Umarkot. Some close neighbours include: Thar Desert, not more than 100 km away. Karachi situated 220 km south-west. Hyderabad at a distance of 65 km Not far from the Indian border in the east, this city was one of the firsts to welcome refugees from India after the partition. The Indian border is 170 km away from this city. It acted as a primary railway junction for the first trains to rail across the Sindh Province. The city is built on or may be just beside an old Buddhist metropolis of 4th century. There are reminents of the Stupa near the city known as "Kahoo Jo Daro", but slowly it is being turned into a flat land with the growth of population around it. The city has several shopping centers and bazaars which includes, Baldia Shopping Center, Shahi Bazaar and Khisakpura (in local slang), which sells traditional garments, modern crockery, etc. The Talpur Princes of Mirpurkhas: Third from the left is Mir Ali Murad Talpur II, the great grandson of Mir Ali Murad Talpur I. Mir Ali Murad Talpur-I was the founder of Mirpurkhas Economy Banks Muslim Commercial Bank United bank Limited Habib Bank Limited National Bank Limited Bank alfalah PICIC Commercial Bank My Bank Limited Askari Bank Limited Khushali Bank Limited Zari Taraqiati Bank Ltd The First Micro Finance Bank Ltd Pak Oman Microfinance Bank Ltd Sugar Industry Al Abbas Sugar Mills Digri Sugar Mills Mirpurkhas Sugar Mills Tharparkar Sugar Mills Private Companies THAR PRODUCTION (TP), Pakistan's Leading and pioneer Music Industry. Releasing over 300 Singers in a Year, has Head office in MIRPUKHAS. Private Institutes The City School SZABIST College Muhammad Medical college (Muhammad Foundation Trust) Muhammad Institute of Science & Technology (Muhammad Foundation Trust) 'Hotels and Rest Houses Bisma Hotel City Hotel Sindhri Rest House Bismil ALLAH REST HOUSE. Communications Railway link Mirpur Khas is again a centre of attention. After 40 years a railway link between Pakistan and India is being opened again. A broad gauge line has been laid from Mirpur Khas to Khokra Par, which is the border town from Pakistani Side. The new link now connects Karachi (Pakistan) to Jodhpur (India) by the new train service Thar Express. Cellular phone Companies Telenor Instaphone Paktel Ufone Mobilink Warid Mirpurkhas Itian's Foundation Irrigation and crops The city increased in importance after the Jamrao Canal was opened in 1900. It is now a trade centre for grain, fabrics, and cotton products and also has fertilizer factory, sugar mill, cotton factories and many other factories. Mirpur Khas is famous for its mangos. It has the largest variety of mangos. The city holds a mango festival every year. One of the most famous verieties is called Sindhri. Education and local system It was constituted of a municipality in 1901. The city houses three government colleges (Shah Abdul Latif Government Science College for Boys, Ibne-Rushd Government Degree College for Women and Model College of Arts Education) affiliated with the University of Sindh, and has many Higher Secondary Education Institutions (Government Comprehensive Higher Secondary School for Boys, Government High School for boys and government High School for Girls, Government Higher Secondary School for Boys Bhansinghabad, and Government Higher Secondary School for Girls Bhansinghabad). Mirpur Khas city also has a medical college (Muhammad Medical College) affailated with Sindh Medical University, a number of Science & Technology institutes like MIST and CMS affailated with University of Sindh and with an own Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education. The City has two very well maintained and up to-date public libraries run by the provincial government, Municipal Library and Allama Iqbal Public Library. Plans are underway to set up a full-fledged Medical College and a campus of University of Sindh in public sector. The City has well built and sufficiently equipped Civil Hospital with a state-of-the-art heart disease Center. The hospital, being a (previously) divisional headquarter, caters to a huge number of patients from various parts of the suburb. Apart from the Civil Hospital, there are a number of private health establishments working day and night to cater to the general public needs. Some of them are, Ali MediCare Center, Maria Medical Complex, Alshifa Hospital and so on. Society The city also has a Satellite Town which is considered a posh area. The city is considerably clean and has many places to hang around like parks, a museum, various tea shops and a very famous Sindh Horticulture Research Institute and Farm also famous with the name of Fruit Farm....tehre are many makranies are siting and waitting the sweet and chikna bachasss......if u want money go fruiet farm and get money from makranies,,, Most people speak Sindhi but there is a significant Urdu speaking community, New Sindhi or the immigrants from India who came in 1947. There are about 60% Muslims and 40% Hindus in the city & its surroundings. Neighbouring towns and cities Digri Jamrao Mirwah Gorchani Kot Ghulam Muhammad Kachhelo Tando Jan Muhammad Jhudo Roshanabad Ratanabad Khipro Umerkot Important Buildings Kutchehri - Residence of Mir Sher Muhammad Talpur. Now a days being used as Mukhtiarkar office under revenue department. Partab Bhawan - A palace constructed by Partab Rai. Now badly needs restoration and preservation. Ghulam Nabi Shah Hall - Now being used as District Council office. Durbar Hall - Used as meeting place by head of district government. Previously and under British used as office of District Collector. Municipal Musafirkhana - Historical building now badly needs preservation. Muhammad Nasir Iqbal Founder of Mirpurkhas Itian's Foundation. Historical Places Chitorri - Historical graveyard with many sandstone tombs of Talpur rulers Kahu-Jo-Darro - Ancient Buddhist archaeological site Aamri jo Mukaam - Graveyard,near kot jan muhammad Grohar Sharif - The Shrine of Faqir Abdul Raheem Grohiri Mangrio Famous Families "CHOUDRY SIKANDER KHAN" "SYED JAFFER ALI SHAH (Thar production)" "SARDAR KARLAL NUSRAT ZAMAN" "KHALEEFA NAI (KHARPARE WALE) "MALAK MAJID (COLONY WALE) *Late Haji Abdul Sattar (Tharparkar Tiles Wale) Abdul Rasheed (Tharparkar Tiles Wale) Late Haji Zafar (Nai Para wale) Haji Muhammad Ikhlaq (Nai Para Wale) Faisal Rasheed Shaikh Rizvi Syed Family Dr. Fazal Mehmood Satellite Town wale Syed Haji Wadal Shah/ Haji Imam Bux Shah Rizvi Syed Shuja Muhammad Shah Rizvi Syed Gulam Haider Shah Rizvi Syed Ali Qutab Shah Rizvi Syed Ali Nawaz Shah Rizvi Syed Irfan Ali Shah Rizvi �Late Hazrat Molana Hakeem Deen Mohammad �Late Hazrat Molana Faizullah Late Dr Syed Ali Muhammad Taqvi (Railway doctor, founder of Muhammad Foundation Trust and Muhammad Medical College)

Drought and migration: A brief story of Tharparkar

In a statement on Friday, Mr Pakkala termed the nutrition crisis in Pakistan ‘a silent emergency’ and called for urgent attention and investment. “The situation is bound to recur, unless root causes are addressed,” he warned.
Quoting summary of the 2013 Nutrition Information System data, he said that 21 per cent of the children were acutely malnourished in areas adjacent to Tharparkar, mainly Umerkot and Sanghar.
He said that reports in early March highlighted a rising number of malnutrition-related clinical admissions and child mortality in the Tharparkar district.
The 2011 National Nutrition Survey states that 44 per cent of under-five children in Pakistan are stunted, 32 per cent underweight and 15 per cent suffer from acute malnutrition.
He urged the Sindh government to improve the funding for nutrition programmes in Tharparkar and other districts from its development budget.
On their part, the Unicef, WFP, WHO and FAO and their partners were seeking $11.67 million from donor countries to scale up nutrition and other support initiatives for over 1.3m people for a year in Tharparkar and surrounding districts, he said.
The UN humanitarian coordinator for Pakistan said that more funds were urgently required to scale up support for nutrition interventions, including sustainable development solutions, to tackle the crisis in the drought-affected Tharparkar region.
Mr Pakkala said: “Resilience is what we are after here. Crisis and disasters are naturally unpredictable. Creating silent communities is what bridges relief and development efforts, and this requires investment.”
The United Nations and its partners have been providing nutritional support in Sindh since 2010, assisting 1.7m children and 800,000 pregnant and lactating women through malnutrition management, nutrient supplementation, and health and nutrition counselling.
The UN’s scaling up plan would help establish 44 community-based malnutrition treatment sites, provide emergency health services, build and rehabilitate water harvesting structures, establish health and nutrition surveillance systems and provide livelihood support, concentrated animal feed and vaccination of small ruminants.

Many government schools in Karachi which were quite effective only a decade ago have enormously declined in standard
Karachi, Feb 02: It is painful to observe how the government education system is managed in our country. Many government schools in Karachi which were quite effective only a decade ago have enormously declined in standard.
The school I attended until 1990 was a government school, quite reputable in those times. Many of the children coming from middleclass homes attended it and we stood fairly in comparison to known private-school children, which were also not so many in those days. Unfortunately, the same school now presents a very sorry picture.
I visited my school a few years back and was stunned to see the dismal its building and even the teachers and students were in. If this government school, located in the central part of Karachi, has decayed to this extent, imagine the state of government schools in the suburbs and rural areas throughout Pakistan.
As part of my research responsibilities, I have visited government schools in Karachi's suburbs, rural Sindh and the rural Northern Areas too. Many government high schools have huge buildings, which are most often used to a minimum. One school that I visited in Karachi's suburb occupied a huge piece of land, a big ground in the middle and rows of rooms all around it. On talking to the teachers I realised that this school which looked like a single building actually houses as many as four or five schools at a given time under some weird government arrangements - bad governance indeed.
It is worth pondering on the causes of the continued downfall of our government education system. It can be traced back to the inefficient governance, faulty recruitment system, lack of professional development opportunities, corruption and politicisation of the system, poor material and resources, etc.
The problems are numerous and some prominent educationists like Dr Shahid Siddiqui and Dr Tariq Rahman have highlighted them quite amicably in their books and articles. So instead of exploring the causes, I want to ponder upon the following questions: Can government schools and our public schooling system be improved? And more importantly, why should we attempt to restore government schools rather than popularising private provision?
Why not just do away with the government schools, after all the recent education census showed that around 33 per cent of our education provision is in the hands of private institutions. First and foremost, it is because the private system works on market principles and only moves to places where profits can be made - a "corporate model" of education according to Dr Shahid Siddiqui.
My critique of private schools is directed only towards the private-for-profit sector here and not towards the private-not-for-profit. NGOs can lend a helping hand to poor segments that cannot afford private education. However, it would be unwise to believe that they can compensate for a very large population below or near the poverty line, mostly in the rural areas.
To measure the enormity of the task, according to the official statistics available at the Ministry of Education's website, there were 137,751 primary, 14,982 middle and 9,110 high schools in the public sector of Pakistan in 2005-2006, majority of them in rural areas. Governed by market rules, the private provision can not be an equitable system. An increase in private provision would worsen the already existing "educational apartheid" as demonstrated by Dr Tariq Rahman in his book Denizens of Alien Worlds.
It is the constitutional responsibility of our government to provide equitable education to all members of society and we should hold our government accountable for it. Rabea Malik in a recent research report prepared under a DFID project estimates that we need Rs426,092 million to fulfil Education for All targets. Given that it is an investment in the future of the country, is it too much to ask?
In his article in this newspaper on (Nov 30, 2008) Shehzad Roy vividly pointed out the fact that the state alone has the means to provide education to all its citizens, what it lacks is the political will. He rightly noticed that despite their commendable efforts, NGOs and not-for-profit-private provisions cannot compensate for state provision. It would be prudent if they try and harness their efforts alongside the government system, support it and also make the state accountable for its basic constitutional responsibilities. Private provisions should only be available as a matter of choice, not compulsion. The declining quality of government schools are leaving parents with no option but to turn to private provisions.
I believe that the government education system can be improved with some honest leadership. We need to revitalise our political commitment towards education that was abundant at the time of independence. The first education conference occurring within three months after independence despite myriad settlement challenges shows leadership commitment. The conference, addressed by the Quaid, showed the political will at the highest level. The first education minister Fazlur Rahman was also very keen on developing our education system on strong footings. We need a renewed commitment from the top leadership as was shown by our founders. I have come across brilliant government teachers with high hopes, carrying out marvellous efforts but getting frustrated on the way. So all is not bad but they need encouragement and continuous support before it gets too late.
Our government can hold all-party conferences when it comes to foreign threats. We pass joint resolutions in the parliament against foreign aggression. Why can't we have a collective parliamentary decision to improve our education system and refrain from political interference within the education sector? Depoliticisation of the education system is also one of the important recommendations in the recently-issued White Paper by the Ministry of Education. The 1998 education policy had the same recommendations. I suspect our elite rulers are not bothered to improve the situation of mass education perhaps because bad government schools do not affect them directly.
The middle classes also do not seem passionate about this issue as they can still acquire better education through private schooling. Amidst this scenario, the poor segments of our society see no opportunity for improving their future which can come through quality education. Our poorly managed education system is one of the major causes of our society's radicalisation. The elite cannot stay inside their castles with such prevalent injustices. Equitable educational provision for all is good for the whole society at large.
Is there any cure? Apart from the government, what should be done by NGOs to make it happen? NGOs should not only limit their efforts for educational provision but also hold the state accountable for its commitment to provide reasonable education for all. There have been laudable efforts by NGOs in the shape of the Pakistan Coalition for Education and Campaign for Quality Education. The need is to activate it and to keep it going.
In addition, and most importantly, there is a role for each one of us in this connection. For example the alumni of government schools owe a payback to their alma mater. Upon my return from the UK, I intend to gather the alumni of the school that I came from and try for its improvement in whatever way that I can. So could many others who have good memories of their schools. -By Sajid Ali. The writer is a doctoral candidate at the University of Edinburgh, UK. - sajjidali@gmail.com (Dawn)
Schooling still a distant dream for 7m Sindhi children: Sharmila
Karachi: A slim, energetic and fragile but committed young lady in Sindh government is all-out to resolve those thorny issues in which her male counterparts may think many times before indulging. But adviser to Chief Minister Sindh, Sharmila Farooqui, does not hesitate to reach the spot, listen problems and resolve them quickly.
She strongly believes in getting the issues identified and believes the wastage of funds would only hamper growth in a democratic set up. She believes that there should be transparency. Noticing the deteriorating education system in Sindh, she said that nearly 50 per cent of the total child population, aged 5-15 years, were still not going to school. And 70 per cent of girls in rural Sindh had never attended the schools.
She said that a comprehensive report on the ruined educational system in Sindh had been prepared by the Reform Support Unit and a complete survey had been conducted all over the Sindh. She noticed each and every mess prevailing in the education system and reported in the reforms report to address the problems.
She regretted that according to the reforms report, 3.8 million children are out of schools in rural Sindh and this number is doubled in urban Sindh.
She further said that Sindh education sector was currently facing the challenges that less than 50 per cent of children enrolled for complete primary schooling. Less than 50 per cent of rural girls who completed primary schooling continue their middle school.
Sharmila observed that after hectic efforts the provincial government has identified the problems in education sector and according to the Sindh education reform programme, a mid term reform programme has been perceived targeting issues of access, quality and governance. The reform programme would be supported by World Bank Credit and European Commission Education Grant and Technical Assistance. She believes that schooling and education is must for a girl-child and hence she should not be treated as a domain of liability.