More than 1.6 million children aged 5-17 are trapped in child labor in Pakistan’s Sindh province, with half a million enduring life-threatening conditions in farms and factories, a bombshell government survey revealed Sunday – spotlighting a persistent scourge despite legal reforms and a near-50 per cent drop since 1996.
Sindh Labour Director General Syed Muhammad Murtaza Ali Shah unveiled the findings from a July-August poll, conducted with UNICEF and the Bureau of Statistics, showing 10.3 percent of the province’s 5-17 age group – or over 1.6 million kids – forced into work.
Alarmingly, 800,000 (50.4 per cent of working children aged 10-17) face exploitative hazards like grueling hours, scorching heat, and dangerous machinery in agriculture and industry.
“Child labor remains a major menace despite government efforts to update laws protecting children,” Shah told reporters in Karachi.
The survey paints a stark education divide: just 40.6 per cent of working children attend school, versus 70.5 per cent of their non-working peers. District hotspots expose rural vulnerabilities – Qambar Shahdadkot tops the list at 30.8 per cent, followed by Tharparkar (29 per cent), Tando Muhammad Khan (20.3 per cent), and Shikarpur (20.2 per cent).
Urban Karachi bucks the trend with a mere 2.38 per cent rate.
Progress is evident with child labor has halved from 20.6 per cent in 1996. Yet critics demand urgency.
The provincial government is revamping laws, launching awareness drives, raiding workplaces, and rolling out poverty-alleviation programs.
Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has formed a dedicated task force to eradicate the issue. Other provinces are now surveying anew, but activists warn systemic failures fuel the crisis.
“Poverty, large families, and apathy toward children’s rights are the root causes,” said Nazra Jahan, protection officer at the Society for the Protection of Rights of Child (SPARC).
In the poorest households, 33.7 per cent have at least one child working, Jahan added, with families pushed to the brink for survival. “Without job creation, expanded education – including technical training – and real poverty reduction, battling child labor is an uphill fight,” she stressed.
The survey underscores a national wakeup call as Pakistan pushes for child protection amid economic strains.
