Educate Child Labor Victims in Pakistan

When my parents divorced, all my brothers and sisters got separated. My brother and I lived with our father and rest of the four siblings lived with my mother. I miss them a lot. I do meet them, but it’s not like living together under the same roof. My brothers don’t like to study so they all work in a workshop. I like to study and wanted to become a teacher, so that I can teach others like me. Even if my family asked me to leave studying, I won’t. I believe it is education which makes a man perfect. – Shahid (age 11 – Mainstreamed into a formal school in September 2016)

In the winding narrow streets of Dhoke Hassue, flanked by butcher shops, grocery stores, and auto-repair shops on either side, lies a safe haven for the children of this area who were forced by poverty to go work at a young age. This Child Labor Drop-in center, run by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA), functions as a catch-up center specializing in bridge programs and technical vocational training (for older children).

The primary goal of this non-formal education initiative over the past year has been to create a learning environment that will make it possible for these children to be mainstreamed into a formal education system, by the end of one academic year. Our Chalo Parho Barho (CPB - Lets’ Read and Grow) accelerated learning program serves as the basis for this initiative, with periodical assessments to monitor the progress of every child. In August 1016, 44 of the initial rescued 59 children were mainstreamed into local formal schooling systems.

As of September 2016 the center has 24 students between the ages 7-12, with an average of 3 children being brought in for registration every week. The initiative is widely reputed in the area, which has encouraged enrollment for out of school children in the area, including girls who may not have been allowed to attend school earlier.

The center has also started functioning as an after school technical vocational training center for young girls between the ages of 15 - 20, who attend sewing classes. With 42 girls enrolled in this course, 24 have completed the course successfully, with the rest due to complete it by the last week of December.

In addition to the day to day program activities, ITA routinely hosts activities with the students at the center, including storytelling sessions, art workshops etc. The bimonthly parent-teacher meeting allows us the chance to actively engage with the members of the community and gain their feedback about the effectiveness of the program.

In the recent past the country has gone through significant socio-political changes as a result of which Afghan refugees have been asked to emigrate out of the country. Center Manager and Head Teacher Uzma Rani said that while this resulted in a number of students dropping out of the program, they had received a number of new enrollments this year of Afghani children who had moved to Dhoke Hassue with their families from other parts of the country. She said that their parents had intimated that the center would be perfect to help the children fill the gap in their education in order to make sure their children received formal schooling in Afghanistan.

We hope to expand this center, and increase its capacity in the coming months to be able to accommodate 100 students. Having seen great success in the previous academic year, we plan to continue on this path to provide an opportunity to out-of-school children who have been forced into child labor. Thank you for your donations, and we hope you will think of us again!

Warm Regards,

Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) | Center for Education and Consciousness