Muhammad Saleem Channar, Ghulam Qasim Khan Khichi.
Determinants of Child Labour in Bahawalpur City.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;10(10):395-8.

It is estimated that 3.3 million children are employed as labour in Pakistan and in Bahawalpur district alone 30,000 such children are working on daily wages. Majority of these children is working in agricultural farms in rural areas along with their parents and the rest work at various work places within the city. Like in some other parts of the country the problem of child labour is very much prevalent in Bahawalpur. It was felt that there was an urgent need of research to find out the determinants responsible for its high prevalence so that necessary control measures may be taken to stop further proliferation of this important social issue. Accordingly, a sample of 300 children with the age range of 7-15 years was taken from selected areas of Bahawalpur city where the prevalence of child labour was high as observed by the authors in their pilot survey of the city conducted for this purpose before the start of study which was also confirmed from the office of Director, Labour and Manpower, Bahawalpur Division. Children included in the study were interviewed with the help of a preformed questionnaire prepared for this purpose.lt was concluded that poor socio-economic condition and lack of education on the part of parents were the two strongest determinants of child labour in Bahawalpur city. Poverty alleviation measures, increase in literacy rate by compulsory school education, limitation in working hours for children and family planning measures are few of the strong recommendations to over come this problem.

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