DAWN’s front page of Jan 25 carries a great photo. It shows that a teacher at a Mashal School near Islamabad is training street children on how to use a computer. The amazement on the faces of some of these children is truly heart-warming. The teacher seems to be nice and his kind demeanour towards these children is priceless. I am going to frame this photo. It is always exciting to see children engaged in an activity that they seem to be enjoying and learning from, but what makes the depiction of this photo even more rewarding is the fact that children in this photo are from poor families. These children must have been doing manual worker at some homes or at businesses which have no qualms in exploiting poor children. Or they could have been a target of an ignorant mullah’s torment at a madressah had it not been for the efforts of Mashal School in providing them a secure learning environment. Child labour in Pakistan shows that the country is suffering from lack of astute leadership. Nobody knows how many great scientists, humanists and leaders of the future have been sacrificed at the altar of child labour. The solution to Pakistan’s problems will come only when talented children from average or poor Pakistani families obtain education and grow up with a burning desire to transform their hitherto unfortunate nation. Pakistan needs to do more of what the Mashal School is trying to do. SIDDIQUE MALIK Louisville, Kentucky, US