Main sections National Legislation and Policies Against Child Labour in Pakistan IPEC Action in Pakistan Other Initiatives Against Child Labour in Pakistan Download full text - PDF 159 KB See also Information Resources Pakistan

Project of Support for the National Time-Bound Programme (TBP) to Help Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labour from Pakistan

This Project of Support is aimed at assisting the Government of Pakistan concretise its national time bound programme to implement ILO Convention No. 182 and eliminate the worst forms of child labour. The Project involved both upstream and downstream interventions. In its downstream intervention, the Project directly targeted the community level through 10 action programmes to combat child labour in six hazardous sectors across six districts : Hyderabad, Gwadar, Shangla, Kasur, Sialkot and Rawalpindi. The six hazardous sectors included glass bangles, tanneries, surgical instruments, deep sea fishing, coal mines and rag picking. NGO run-programmes provided non-formal education, mainstreaming children into formal education, providing literacy and skills training, health screening and linking children and their families with social safety nets and micro-credit.

Some of the key achievements are:

Glass Bangles manufacturing in Hyderabad:

• 2099 families were linked with the micro credit facility of the National Rural Support Programme;
• on-formal education was provided to 3,296 children who were mainstreamed into the formal education system; and
• 320 children were imparted with technical and vocational skills training.
  
  

Deep sea fishing in Gwadar:

• 896 children received non-formal education in 33 centres that were operational in the formal schools;
• among them 341 children were mainstreamed into the formal education system; and
• 150 children were imparted with technical and vocational skills training.
  
  

Coal mines in Shangla:

• 50 formal school teachers were trained on the consequences of the worst forms of child labour;
• 250 children were provided with literacy and numeracy skills; and
• 150 children received technical and vocational training skills.
  
  

Surgical Instruments manufacturing in Sialkot:

• 2252 working children were imparted with non-formal education;
• 1461 children were mainstreamed into formal schools; and
• 32 literacy centres were established where 755 children completed literacy and numeracy training.
  
  

Through the upstream interventions, the Project assisted the Government of Pakistan in developing the National Time Bound Programme to Combat the Worst Forms of Child Labour to incorporate the Government's commitment under the ILO Convention No. 182. Moreover, the recently drafted Employment Services and Conditions Bill 2008 has a revised list of hazardous occupations and processes.