PATTIKA, Dec 6: The UN children’s agency is worried child survivors of Pakistan’s earthquake are having to look for work to support their families. Child labour is common in Pakistan but in its part of mountainous Kashmir, the area worst-hit by the Oct. 8 quake, enrolment of children in school was higher than the national average before the disaster, officials there say.
But most schools in the region were destroyed in the quake, that killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistan, including thousands of children and many teachers crushed when their schools caved in.
Some schools have reopened but most children still have no classes to go to.
Some, like 14-year-old Mohammad Irfan, are starting work instead.
“I have to help my family because we have big problems. We lost everything we had,” Irfan said in the small town of Pattika, where on Monday he got a job as a shop delivery boy.
Irfan said his home was destroyed in the quake and now he and his family needed food.
Irfan, who said he had always dreamed of joining the army, said his school had not reopened since the quake and he had no books or pencils.
He took the job working for the shop against the wishes of his father, he said.
Unicef fears there could be many more children like Irfan.
“It is a concern for us and we are trying to assess the situation,” said Zafrin Chowdhury, a spokeswoman for the agency in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.
NOTHING TO DO: Traditionally, many people from Kashmir migrate to Pakistan’s low-land cities and find work as servants, cooks and drivers.
Maqbool-ur-Rehman Abbasi, chairman of the Astafada children’s rights welfare organisation, said children were now following in their older relatives’ footsteps.
“A lot of children are moving out of Muzaffarabad and started working as domestic servants,” he said.
Sardar Ashfaq, an education official in the region, said the government was trying to get children back to school.
“They have nothing else to do,” he said, referring to children who have started working.
Unicef has opened 231 tent schools, most of them in tent camps for homeless quake survivors.
Unicef has also brought in 2,040 so-called schools in a box, a complete set of school equipment for small groups of children. New sets arrived on Monday and are being distributed this week.
“Children need their routine and normalcy back in their lives,” said Unicef education officer Ellen van Kalmthout. “It would be very difficult for them to catch up if they stay away too long.”
The harsh winter weather now beginning, which has raised fears for the health of homeless survivors, is also disrupting schools, many of which are holding classes in the open.
“If it is a cold day or it is rainy the children have to be sent home,” van Kalmthout said.
Despite the concerns, young Irfan is proud of his new job and the help he can bring his family. “Most children stay in the city and just wait for relief,” he said.—Reuters
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