FRHD bring to light issues of street children

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

A consultative dialogue meeting with street children was organized by the Foundation for Research & Human Development (FRHD) at Beach Park, Clifton, Karachi, as a part of the Global Action Week: Education for All programme.

A group of 25 street children, representatives of civil society, school children and teachers participated in the event. The aim of meeting was to urge the state took serious measures to provide shelter, health and education them accordingly existing domestic laws. 

The literacy rates among children working and living on the streets is very low during the consultative dialogue street children group shared that poverty, corporal punishment and forced begging were some of the major reasons children working on the streets have dropped out of school. 

The majority of vulnerable children disclosed that they had left school because of their family's economic status. Incidences of corporal punishment, violent behavior of peers and others also played their part in expediting dropouts from schools. 

Upon inquiry, they stated that neither did they want to enroll in school nor would their families ever let them, given the fact that they believed earning on the streets trumped educating a child. The FRHD estimates 1.5 million children on the streets of Pakistan's major cities with poverty, unemployment and other economic issues and floods of 2010 and 2011 having contributed increasing number of street children in the country. 

“A study on street children revealed that 56.5% of the children interviewed in Multan, 82.2% in Karachi, 80.5% in Hyderabad and 83.3% in Sukkur were forced to move on to the streets after the 2010 and 2011 floods. According to UNODC, 72% of the working children do not have contact with their families and 10% have no knowledge of their families,” Nazra Jahan, Executive Director, FRHD, revealed. 

She reminded that the laws prevailing to address the issues, the Sindh Children Act 1955, make the state responsible for providing custody and protection to children whilst also punishing parents and guardians who will fully neglects and abuse children. 

“The Sindh Child Protection Authority Act 2011 entailed specific provisions for child protection in the province of Sindh under the authority formed. It shall have powers to coordinate, monitor, support and establish mechanisms for all child protection issues in the province. The Sindh Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education Act 2013 protected the right to education of every child aged 5 to 16 years,” Nazra Jahan added. 

The FRHD official felt that instead of overburdening in the sense of introducing legislation, the state should take measures to implement the existing laws for protecting the human rights, it’s a very essential obligation. 

The Programme officer Devcon, Shafiq Kandro, observed that the street children in Pakistan form a very young age group, some being no older than four years of age, and are engaged in menial jobs that do not require vocational training. 

“Moreover, these jobs offer no opportunities for advancement or improved lifestyles in the future. Many survive by prostituting themselves, stealing or smuggling and are vulnerable to a number of diseases including STDs and health ailments that are a direct result of their occupations and unsanitary conditions of workplaces,” she concluded.