Moalims

LAHORE:
Provincial Minister for Labour Raja Ashfaq Sarwar said on Tuesday that his department has in collaboration with International Labour Organisation launched "Enrollment Campaign of Brick Kiln Workers Children" to materialise the dream of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to eliminate child labour from all the brick kilns of the province.

As many as 35 out-of-school children of brick kiln workers from Nankana Sahib District were enrolled in Government Model Primary School Chokhiyanwala, Nankana Sahib, on Tuesday. The Punjab government will provide free education, school bags and books to the brick kiln children enrolled in schools under this campaign. It will be ensured, through strict monitoring, that the process continues within the radius of two kilometres of each brick kiln. ILO Country Director Fransisco D'O video, PEF MD Anila Salman, Parliamentary Secretary Rana Arshad, MPAs Sara Iftikhar Rana Jamil Hassan Khan, Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora, Syed Mubashir Hussain were present on the occasion.

Employers and workers representatives, Dr Javaid Gill, Project Director Integrated Project, Syed Mushtaq Hussain Shah President PML-N Labour Wing Punjab also spoke on the occasion, emphasising upon all stakeholders the importance of education for all out-of-school children of brick kiln workers through this enrollment campaign. Stakeholders, children of brick kiln workers, district government officials, kiln owners also participated in the event. A monitoring follow-up mechanism to ensure the sustainability of the schemes will be made through district vigilance committees (DVCs), the labour minister added. All out-of-school children of brick kiln workers' will be enrolled in educational institutions by October 31. He also announced that this exercise will be replicated in 6,090 brick kilns of Punjab.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has directed the Labour and Human Resource Department to enrol children of the brick kiln workers in schools within six months. The department plans to conduct survey of all kilns in Punjab to assess the number of children aged 4 to 14 for enrollment in schools. For this purpose a survey was conducted in June. All the district officials of Labour and Human Resource Department were technically trained to complete this exercise within the given time span. Out of 6,090 brick kilns in Punjab, 94% are functional and a district-wise list has been prepared and sent to each district education department for the enrollment of those children. There are 293 children in Nankana Sahib who are working at brick kilns. Labour and Human Resource Department has support PEF, PITB, Literacy, School Education, local government and Home Department in launching this campaign. online

News Reference