Child Labor

Worst Form of Child Labour Research Work

 

Project description

DASTAR selected for worst form of Child Labor research work for District Haripur, Swat and Nowshera Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In this Research work, ILO provide financial support. The purpose of this research work was to know that how much child involved in worst form of child labour. 
Child labor refers to the phenomenon where children are forced to work manually, thereby depriving them of their childhood and the opportunity of regular schooling with adverse effect on their mental and physical health and social and moral potentials. This is how the International Labor Organization (ILO), identifies the menace of child labor that afflicts 215 million children the world over. The yawning gap between the rich and the poor all over the world is the main factor responsible for the increasing drop-out rate at school level, forcing millions of children to join the workforce pretty reluctantly.

The survey was conducted by using different tools such as direct interview, focus group discussions, In-depth interview and general observation.

 

Criteria used to identify Worst Forms of Child labour

The survey team discussed their concerns with local opinion leaders, local NGOs and Government
officials to assess the situation of child labour in district Haripur. After through discussions, the
following 4 Sectors were selected for Rapid Assessment based on two main criteria- a) expansion of the
sector, b) extent of child labour.

 

Brick Kilns

According to secondary source of information, there are about 145 brick kilns located in Kot Najib Ullah, Panyan and Khan Pur areas. Mostly the children and their families working in these brick kilns belong to Multan, migrated here and mostly working on furnace and Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda, Swabi and Nowshera (Mud working and loading un-loading, brick making)

 

Auto mobile Workshops

Children in the Auto mechanic shops belong to local areas and most of them are school dropouts due to poverty, and corporal punishments in schools.

 

wood workshops

Main Bazaar Haripur is the hub of wood works and mostly local children work in these wood works workshops. The wages in this sector are comparatively better than other sectors.

 

 

steel & iron workshops

The Steel and iron workshops are mostly located in Union Council North. The children working in these workshops commute daily the outskirts of Haripur, where they reside.

 

 

Data Collection Tools

In order to assess scope, degree and nature of various WFCL and to have information in all aspects ranging from the age, gender, workplace status, health problems, wages, harassment, economic and social conditions the team used different tools to collect qualitative and quantitative data to understand the whole picture of Child labour in District Haripur, Swat and Nowshera.

 

Tools used in Rapid Assessment

  • House hold Forms
  • Questionnaires to collect data of children in 4 selected Sector
  • Focused Group Discussion with local opinion leaders, Children in selected 4 groups
  • In-depth interview with Government officials, Employers/Supervisors of the workshops
  • Secondary sources including reports, journals, internet and CSOs PRA reports etc

 

Main finding from the four selected sectors

  • The Brick kiln children are living in worst conditions with no access to education, health
    facilities, cash money and future aspirations.
  • Children at brick kilns and woodwork shops would like to go to school
  • All children in these sectors receive wages in cash except children working in brick kilns
  • All children working in these sectors have 6 days a week except children in brick kilns who have no off day.
  • None of the children in four sectors have access to safety equipment at work place
  • No medical or financial support to the children in case of injury or illness at workplace
  • There is no compulsion and all children in the four sectors are working with the consent of their parents
  • None of the children in the four sectors work for less than 10 hours
  • All the children in these sectors face multiple health hazards at the work place.
  • All the working children suffer from common problems like backache, headache, eyesores.