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Baseline Survey on Children in the Worst Forms of Child Labour in the District
Sahiwal (Punjab)

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Baseline Survey Reports on Child Labour in
Sahiwal District

by
Nazim Ali
Talimand Khan
Mohsin Ali Kazmi

Sustainable Development Policy Institute

Internal Labour Organization, Pakistan

1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS.............................................................................................................................................. 2

LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................................... 5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... 7

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION. .......................................................................................................................... 10

1.1 BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................................................................10

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY .......................................................................................................................................11
1.3 CONTEXT OF CHILD LABOUR AND THE LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK. ................................................................13
1.3.1 The constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan .......................................................................................13
1.3.2 Labour Policy of 2010 ................................................................................................................................13
1.3.3 Mines Act 1923..........................................................................................................................................13
1.3.4 Factories Act 1934.....................................................................................................................................14
1.3.5 Employment of Children Act 1991.............................................................................................................14
1.3.6 West Pakistan Shops and Establishments Ordinance, 1969......................................................................15
1.3.7 Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1992............................................................................................16
1.4 SUPPLY SIDE OF CHILD LABOUR.................................................................................................................................16
1.4 ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT ................................................................................................................................16

CHAPTER TWO: SURVEY METHODOLOGY, TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTATION.......................................................... 17

2.1 SCOPE AND COVERAGE ............................................................................................................................................17

2.2 CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS USED FOR SURVEY...........................................................................................................17
2.2.1 Production boundary.................................................................................................................................17
2.2.2 Economic activity ......................................................................................................................................17
2.2.3 The economically active population..........................................................................................................18
2.2.4 Employed...................................................................................................................................................18
2.2.5 Out of the labour force..............................................................................................................................18
2.2.6 Non-economic activity...............................................................................................................................18
2.2.7 Household tasks ........................................................................................................................................18
2.2.8 Occupation ................................................................................................................................................18
2.2.9 Industry .....................................................................................................................................................18
2.2.10 Household ...............................................................................................................................................19
2.2.11 Child ........................................................................................................................................................19
2.2.12 Child labour .............................................................................................................................................19
2.2.13 Hazardous work ......................................................................................................................................19
2.2.14 Worst forms of child labour.....................................................................................................................19
2.3 SAMPLE DESIGN.....................................................................................................................................................20
2.3.1 Clusters Formation and Selection..............................................................................................................20
2.3.2 Household Selection ..................................................................................................................................20
2.3.3 Screening Questionnaire (Screening) ........................................................................................................20
2.4 SURVEY TOOLS ......................................................................................................................................................21
2.4.1 Structured screening and household questionnaires ................................................................................21
2.4.1.2 Questionnaire Part I ............................................................................................................................................ 21
2.4.1.3 Questionnaire Part II ........................................................................................................................................... 21
2.4.1.4 Questionnaire Part III .......................................................................................................................................... 21
2.5 DATA COLLECTION .................................................................................................................................................22
2.6 DATA PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS .............................................................................................................................22
2.7 RESPONSE RATES ...................................................................................................................................................22
2.8 DATA QUALITY CONTROL MEASURES .........................................................................................................................22
2.9 CHALLENGES, LIMITATIONS AND LESSONS ...................................................................................................................23

2
CHAPTER THREE: CHARACTERISTICS OF HOUSEHOLDS AND HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS HAVING WORKING
CHILDREN ............................................................................................................................................................ 25

3.1 DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION BY AGE AND SEX ....................................................................................................25

3.2 HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION .....................................................................................................................................25
3.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF DWELLING UNITS ......................................................................................................................26
3.3.1 Rooms used for Sleeping ...........................................................................................................................26
3.3.2 Domestic Energy Sources ..........................................................................................................................27
3.3.3 Source of Water for Drinking.....................................................................................................................28
3.4 EDUCATION LEVELS OF ADULTS (18 AND ABOVE) .........................................................................................................29
3.4.1 Highest Levels of Grades ...........................................................................................................................29
3.4.2 Main Reasons for Never Attending Schools ..............................................................................................30
3.5 HOUSEHOLD’S MAIN SOURCE OF LIVELIHOODS .............................................................................................................30

CHAPTER FOUR: EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF ADULT HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS OF WORKING

CHILDREN. ........................................................................................................................................................... 32

4.1 CURRENT ACTIVITY STATUS OF HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS .................................................................................................32

4.2 WORKING MEMBERS OF HOUSEHOLDS (PERCENTAGE OF) .............................................................................................32
4.3 EMPLOYMENT BY TYPE OF CONTRACT .........................................................................................................................33
4.4 PLACE OF WORK ....................................................................................................................................................33
4.5 HOURS OF WORK ...................................................................................................................................................34
4.6 SUPPLEMENTARY WORK ..........................................................................................................................................34
4.7 MAIN REASONS FOR NOT SEEKING WORK ..................................................................................................................35
4.8 AVERAGE MONTHLY INCOME OF THE HOUSEHOLDS ......................................................................................................36
4.9 MIGRATION STATUS OF HOUSEHOLDS ........................................................................................................................36

CHAPTER FIVE: INVOLVEMENT OF CHILDREN IN WORK ACTIVITIES. .................................................................... 37

5.1 WORKING CHILDREN ..............................................................................................................................................37

5.1.1 Surveyed Sample .......................................................................................................................................37
5.1.2 Weighted Figures ......................................................................................................................................37
5.2 STATUS IN EMPLOYMENT OF WORKING CHILDREN ........................................................................................................38
5.3 EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN BY TYPE OF CONTRACT.......................................................................................................38
5.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN’S WORK .....................................................................................................................39
5.3.1 Average Monthly Income ..........................................................................................................................39
5.3.2 Major Occupations ....................................................................................................................................40
5.3.3 Average Starting Work Age.......................................................................................................................40
5.4 Work Intensity ..............................................................................................................................................41

CHAPTER SIX: EDUCATION STATUS OF WORKING CHILDREN ............................................................................... 42

6.1 SCHOOL ATTENDANCE RATIOS ..................................................................................................................................42

6.2 Primary / Secondary School Attendance Ratios ...........................................................................................42
6.2 AGE AT FIRST PRIMARY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE .............................................................................................................43
6.3 EDUCATION ATTAINMENT LEVELS ..............................................................................................................................43
6.4 REASONS FOR LEAVING SCHOOL ................................................................................................................................43
6.5 REASONS FOR NEVER ATTENDING SCHOOL..................................................................................................................44
6.6 REASONS FOR MISSING SCHOOL DAYS .......................................................................................................................45
6.7 LITERACY RATIOS....................................................................................................................................................46

CHAPTER SEVEN: MAGNITUDE OF CHILD LABOUR. .............................................................................................. 47

7.1 CHILD LABOUR.......................................................................................................................................................47

7.1.1 Sample Survey ...........................................................................................................................................47
3
 7.1.2 Weighted Figures ......................................................................................................................................47
7.2 WORKING HOURS OF CHILDREN IN CHILD LABOUR .......................................................................................................48
7.3 CHILDREN IN DEBT BONDAGE ...................................................................................................................................49
7.4 CHILDREN INVOLVED IN HAZARDOUS WORK OR CONDITIONS ..........................................................................................49
7.6 DETERMINANTS OF CHILD LABOUR ............................................................................................................................49
7.7 PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN’S INCOME TO HOUSEHOLD INCOME ......................................................................................50

CHAPTER EIGHT: IMPACT OF CHILDREN’S WORK ON HEALTH, SAFETY AND EDUCATION..................................... 51

8.1 IMPACT OF CHILDREN’S WORK ON HEALTH ..................................................................................................................51

8.1.1 Serious Illness due to work ........................................................................................................................51
8.1.2 Children carrying heavy loads ...................................................................................................................52
8.1.3 Exposure to risk .........................................................................................................................................52
8.2 IMPACT OF CHILDREN’S WORK ON EDUCATION ............................................................................................................53
8.2.1 Who is going to school? ............................................................................................................................54
8.2.2 Reasons for missing school days ...............................................................................................................55
8.3 PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE.......................................................................................................56

CHAPTER NINE: POLICY IMPLICATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS............................................. 57

9.1 CHILDREN AT RISK OF INVOLVEMENT IN CHILD LABOUR ..................................................................................................57

9.2 CHILDREN ALREADY HARMED BY EXPOSURE TO CHILD LABOUR ........................................................................................57
9.3 CHILDREN IN THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOUR REQUIRING IMMEDIATE ACTION ..........................................................58
9.4 POLICY IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..........................................................................................................59
9.6 CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................................................................60

LITERATURE REVIEWED........................................................................................................................................ 61

ANNEX I: CHILD LABOUR BASELINE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES............................................................................ 62

ANNEX II: AUTHORS AND EDITORIAL TEAM. ........................................................................................................ 62

ANNEX III: DEFINITION AND MATRIX OF HAZARDOUS WORK. ............................................................................. 63

HAZARDOUS CHILD LABOUR: THE IDENTIFICATION OF ACTIVITIES AND SECTORS .........................................................................63

A LEGAL FRAMEWORK AGAINST CHILD LABOUR...................................................................................................................63
RATIFY ILO CONVENTION NO. 182 NOW!........................................................................................................................64
THE HAZARD RATING MATRIX (HRM).............................................................................................................................64

ANNEX IV: CHILDREN’S WORK AND CHILD LABOUR - A NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY................................................ 65

ANNEX V: REGRESSION ANALYSIS........................................................................................................................ 66

4
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Distribution of Population by Sex (Estimated) in rural and urban areas ................................25
Table 2: Distribution of population by age in not/working children households.................................25
Table 3: Number of rooms in households.............................................................................................26
Table 4: Households reporting sources of energy for cooking .............................................................27
Table 5: Households reporting sources of energy for heating .............................................................27
Table 6: Households reporting sources of energy for lighting..............................................................28
Table 7: Households reporting drinking water facility..........................................................................28
Table 8: Education of household members 18 and above ...................................................................29
Table 9: Highest level of school attended by adult members of households.......................................29
Table 10: Distribution of adults by reasons for not going school .........................................................30
Table 11: Main occupations of adults of households ...........................................................................30
Table 12: Status in Employment of adult members of households......................................................32
Table 13: Percentage of adult population employed ...........................................................................32
Table 14: Percentage of adult population in employment by type of contract ...................................33
Table 15: Workplaces of employed persons of different households ..................................................33
Table 16: Average number of hour per week doing by different age groups ......................................34
Table 17: Percentage of people working supplementary work in addition to main work ...................35
Table 18: Number and percentage of people explaining different reasons for not seeking work.......35
Table 19: Weighted average household income ..................................................................................36
Table 20: Percentage of households who changed their place ............................................................36
Table 21: Number and percentage of working children in age and gender groups .............................37
Table 22: Weighted number and percentage of working children in age and gender groups.............37
Table 23: Currently active status of working children in gender groups..............................................38
Table 24: Number and percentage of children in formal/informal employment ................................39
Table 25: Average household income with and without children contribution...................................39
Table 26: Most frequent occupation of working children ....................................................................40
Table 27: Average age of working children at start of work.................................................................40
Table 28: Average number of working hours .......................................................................................41
Table 29: Number and percentage of working children attending school ...........................................42
Table 30: Number and percentage of boys and girls attending different levels of schools .................42
Table 31: Average age at first primary school attendance ...................................................................43
Table 32: Highest level of education of dropped out working child.....................................................43

5
Table 33: Distribution of household members by Reason(s) for leaving school and sex .....................43
Table 34: Distribution of reason(s) for never attending school by sex of working children ................44
Table 35: Working children reporting main reason for missing school day .........................................45
Table 36: Number and percentage of literate boys and girls ...............................................................46
Table 37: Distribution of child labour by gender groups and age categories.......................................47
Table 38: Distribution of child labour in age groups and rural/urban locality .....................................47
Table 39: Distribution of Child labourers in Gender and age groups ...................................................48
Table 40: Average number of working hours (per week) for working children and child labour ........48
Table 41: Number and percentage of children in hazardous and other forms of work.......................49
Table 42: Reasons explained by working children for being in work ...................................................49
Table 43: Average monthly income of household with/out child labour.............................................50
Table 44: Children (5-17) and their responses about problems they face due to work.......................51
Table 45: Response of children about serious illness due to work.......................................................51
Table 46: Distribution of working children carrying loads and operating machines by gender...........52
Table 47: Responses and number of children exposed to different risks.............................................52
Table 48: Households reporting reasons for not going to school (responses about 5-17) ..................53
Table 49: Number and percentage of children age 5-17 attending school ..........................................54
Table 50: Number and percentage of child labourers attending school ..............................................54
Table 51: Response of children (5-17) about missing school days .......................................................55
Table 52: Percentage of boys and girls explaining reasons for missing school ....................................55
Table 53: Percentage of Working children reporting abuse.................................................................56
Table 54: Probability of household having child labour at different income levels .............................57
Table 55: Number and percentage of households in child labour at different level of income...........57
Table 56: Number and percentage of children in different employment conditions ..........................58
Table 57: Number of children expose to abusive behaviour at work...................................................58

6
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
There is no regular exercise to collect data on child labour by public sector. However there is a
labour survey that presents data about labour force but their minimum age category is 10-14 that
does not coincide with internationally accepted definition of child labour. Main objective of this
baseline survey was to examine the dimension/magnitude of the child labour and especially the
existence of worst forms of child labour (WFCL) in the Sahiwal district and thus obtain a general
frame of the district in terms of child labour.
The Project “Combating Abusive Child Labour II”, launched in 2008 with the financial assistance of
the European Union, contributes to the execution of the Government’s National Policy and Plan of
Action to Combat Child Labour, mainly the National Time Bound Programme (2008-2016) - its
medium term plan for combating the worst forms of child labour. The Programme adopts a three-
pronged strategy. The first component is at the local level (district level) where working children and
especially those engaged in the worst forms of labour, are identified and provided with alternative
opportunities for education and vocational training while their families are linked up to social safety
nets, credit providers and health services. The second component aims at building government
capacity at district, provincial and federal levels and at keeping child labour as a priority on the
agenda and eventually disseminating the lessons learned from the Project to other districts through
increased planning and leadership capacities of the government at all levels. The third component
facilitates the building of a dynamic knowledge base to inform policy and to create increased
awareness in order to ensure a favourable climate to support efforts directed at addressing child
labour.
Under the first component, Sahiwal District was selected as one of the pilot districts for testing the
project interventions which included the Baseline Survey. There was diversity in population of the
district therefore Cluster Sampling technique had been deployed (CRS) with equal allocation for the
purpose of better representative sample. The updated list of thirty enumeration blocks, ten urban
and twenty rural of the Sahiwal district was provided by FBS. Household clusters with average of 100
households were formed in each enumeration block. The selection of clusters within the block, in
case of more than one cluster in the block, had been done randomly. A 100 percent households
listing been carried out in the selected clusters for screening the households with incidences of
working children and child labour. An exclusively devised screening questionnaire had been used to
identify working children and child labour’s households in the clusters. In each cluster, 10
households of working children were selected randomly through random table method. In case
where there was no respondent during the survey team visit, it was surveyed on the next days. After
three consecutive visits, when the respondent was not available then the household was to be
replaced on the statistical procedure. Thus total 300 households were surveyed and information was
collected about each of the member of household.
Survey data shows that majority of population consisted of children (47.8%) between ages 5-17.
Children less than 5 years of age are just 8.1 percent. Among household characteristics, those who
reported working children were deprived off amenities. About 45 percent of such households had
only two rooms to live and 17 percent have three rooms. While in non-working child households this
percentage is about 37 and 31 respectively. For cooking, about 73 percent households with working
children use wood and about 3 percent other sources of energy that may be animal dung-cakes.
While main source of energy for non-working child households is gas. Drinking through pipe inside
house supplied water to 79.5 percent of households with no working child, compared to 58.6% of
households reporting working child.

7
Literacy in adult members of household reporting working children was quite low. About 54.6
percent adult male members were not able to read or write with understanding. Compared to this,
non working children households have about 16.4 percent illiterate members. Difference in female
members of household is wider; in working children households only 22 percent women are literate
compared to non-working children households where this percentage is 80.
Besides illiteracy, about 86 percent of the male and about 49 percent female household members
are employed in working children households. In other households only 16.6 percent females are
working. And majority of people work at farm in agricultural sector. But this does not seem
rewarding because average monthly income in working child household was Rs. 12,986 compared to
others where it was Rs. 13,740. Real difference was higher but these are weighted figures.
Estimated number of children was 188,089. Of these children, 181,973 were in household reporting
working children. Out of 181,973 children 77,851 were working that means about 41 percent of total
population of age 5-17 were working children. Out of 20.4 percent children of age 5-11 years, 9
percent are girls and 11.4 percent are boys. In age group 12-14, this gap increases up to 10 percent
and in next age group it becomes up to 12.5 percent. Gap between percentage of boys and girls
employed increases with increase in age. As girls grow, they are more likely to face harassment than
boys either at work place or way to their work place. Therefore, parents are less likely to allow older
girls to go out for work. But boys, as they grow old they are more likely to go out of their home.
Major occupation for children is agriculture (cotton picking, livestock rearing) and construction.
Among all working children, only 22 percent of them attended school. Of these 22 percent, 15.6
percent were boys and 6.5 percent were girls. Drop-out rate was the highest after primary, i.e. 69
percent of working children dropped out at primary and 24 percent at secondary school.
Estimate number of children was 188,089, 75021 were child labourers that form about 40 percent of
children population. Out of 77851 working children about 95 percent were in hazardous work.
Number of children in permissible light work was very small i.e. 0.1 percent. This is an indicator that
working conditions for children are very bad that can affect their overall personality.
The most frequent health problems in both boys and girls due to work are injuries, eye problem,
fever and fatigue. These conditions may affect not only their education if they are enrolled but also
their physical growth and fitness. There is no significant difference between boys and girls response
about these problems, which means both experience same things while working outside home.
Some peculiarities in boys’ responses are fracture and sprains. This may be due to their work that
involve heavy loads, do some construction work or in auto-workshops. Fever and fatigue is more in
girls that may be due to their less tolerance of continues work or exposure to hazards. This seems
very alarming situation where 446 boys and 43 girls got injured so severely that they had to stop the
work. Workshop, mills, factories and all work places where ever children work, owners don’t have
any insurance or compensation that may help their families. Other injuries or illness were also
prevalent that’s why 20.3 percent boys and 17 percent girls are complaining.
Out of 6957 cases, 83 percent boys and 55 percent girls complained that their supervisor/owner
shout at them. This seems quite a usual thing when we see frequency of this. In all shocks boys seem
to suffer more than girls. Even in sexual abuse, there are 6.5 percent cases (about 430). Reason for
this is same as in other shocks that boys work away from their homes out of the sight of their
parents and more vulnerable to any abuse than girls. Parents don’t allow girls to work at place that is
not safe for them.
Based on above discussion we can propose following actions to be taken:

8
 1. District manager should take some preventive measures like:
a. Ensuring that children are enrolled in schools as per legislation of Government of
Punjab. Punjab Compulsory Education Act says that all children should be enrolled
until there is some legitimate reason. There should be some implementation
mechanism for it.
b. All business establishments should be advised not to employ under age children. Not
only employers but parents should be made answerable.
c. Most of the children are employed in agricultural sector. There is not legislation
about control on child labour in agriculture. This sector should be brought under
observation for abusive child labour. But this is not possible until there is some legal
cover. So there should be some development in legislation about employment of
children in agriculture sector.
d. Child labour has strong nexus with poverty. One of the main causes of poverty is
unemployment and under payment of labour. District administration should ensure
that all labour is being paid minimum wages prescribed by government.
e. Children exposed to any abuse usually cannot tell anyone about any misconduct,
there should be a free phone line to report cases about child abuse. If employers or
co-workers know that their complaints can reach somewhere, they would at least
think twice before they do anything wrong.
f. Increase in investment in education would have a positive impact. Schools in rural
areas are too far to reach. Parents don’t send their children (especially girls) due to
security concern. Consequently there enter in labour market.
2. There are some control measure that district government should take like:
a. Implementation of laws about child labour.
b. Implementation of safety measure at work places; this will not only save a lot of
children working informally but also legal workers as well.
Situation of child labour is not pleasant in District Sahiwal where 40 percent of the children age 5 to
17 are in child labour. On supply side government is not providing enough schooling facilities to
engage children in education and on demand side poor economy compelling households to put their
children in child labour. An amalgam of illiteracy and poverty is leading children towards child labour
and weak institutions are providing favourable environment for employment of children.

9
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION.

1.1 BACKGROUND

A national child labour survey (1996) conducted by the Federal Bureau of Statistics found 3.3 million
of the 40 million children (5-14 age group) to be economically active. Of these 3.3 million children,
that form 8 percent of children 5-14 age group, 67 percent were employed in agriculture and 11
percent in manufacturing sector (GoP, 1996). However, other estimates of children’s participation
(10-14 age group) in labour force is even higher i.e. 12.6 percent that were 13.1 percent in 2008-09
(GoP, 2010).
Following the ratification of the ILO Convention C.182 in 2001 (on Worst Forms of Child Labour), the
Government of Pakistan designed a framework of a National Time Bound Programme (TBP) in
collaboration with ILO and in consultation with stakeholders at the national level. A National
Stakeholder Consultation and Planning Workshop organized to establish country level Strategic
Programme Framework (SPF) in June 2003 identified six priority areas leading to the country level
TBP objective of elimination of worst forms of child labour. Closing gender gaps in education and
development, mainstreaming children from non-formal to formal schools, community participation,
and checking population growth were identified as cross cutting themes.
The National Policy and Plan of Action to Combat Child Labour (NPPA-CCL, May 2000) calls for: 1)
progressive elimination of child labour from all sectors of employment; 2) immediate eradication of
worst forms of child labour; 3) developing a regular monitoring and inspection system to supervise
the implementation of the National Action Plan; 4) prevention of child entry into labour market of
under age children by offering educational alternatives, and 5) ensuring at least primary education
and skill training to the target children. The NPPA focuses on awareness raising; enhancing education
and skills training opportunities for children; and empowerment of poor families. ILO/IPEC has been
working in Pakistan since 1994 with a diverse group of implementing partners, including trade
unions, employers’ associations, government departments and civil society organizations to address
child labour issues in various sectors.
Based on the government’s commitment to the national time bound programme, the focus clearly
needs to be on addressing worst forms of child labour on a priority basis. Depending on the age
group, children in worst forms of child labour would require being withdrawn and prevented from
work that is hazardous to their health and offered various packages including education, vocational
training and access to alternative opportunities in non-hazardous trades as appropriate.
Keeping this in view “Combating Abusive Child Labour – II project has been initiated with the
financial assistance of the European Union. The project would operate under the overall National
Time-bound Programme Framework on Worst Forms of Child Labour and will aim to build the
capacity of the Ministry of Labour through its Child Labour Unit to progressively coordinate and plan
child labour interventions implemented in Pakistan. Since this Programme also relies on the country
level Strategic Programme Framework, it further strengthens the ongoing home-grown effort to
eliminate child labour and aims to step away from the typical donor-dominated environment.
The Programme will adopt a three-pronged strategy. The main thrust will be at the local level where
working children and especially those in worst forms, will be identified and provided alternative
opportunities of education and vocational training while their families will be linked to the social
safety nets, credit providers and health services. The second component aims to build government
capacities at district, provincial and federal levels to keep child labour on priority agenda and
10
eventually to take the Programme learning to other districts through increasing planning and
leadership capacities of the government at federal, provincial and district levels. The final
component will facilitate the building of a dynamic knowledge base to inform policy and to create
larger awareness for ensuring a favourable climate to support efforts at addressing child labour.
Strategically, the Programme is designed to work at the district and provincial to national level to
strengthen the institutional capacity; to enhance the knowledge base; and at the grass roots level in
the target districts to develop a model on how child labour across economic sectors can be
effectively addressed at the district level.
In order to measure impact of the project on changes in the situation of child labour, including its
worst forms, in the target districts, the Programme will undertake impact assessment through initial
baseline surveys in the Programme areas combined with tracking of key impact variables for a
sample of beneficiaries and complementary qualitative studies as appropriate. The baseline surveys
will use indicators developed in the programme logical framework to collect primary information on
the status of working children, and affirmative action by community groups, district institutions and
other stakeholders. Focus group discussions will be conducted with local stakeholders including
district officials, employers/contractors, teachers, parents and children, and social partners to
understand their perceptions on child labour, its worst forms and the needs of children at risk.
The baseline surveys will obtain secondary information on target children from the Programme
database. The SPF approach will be used to assess the degree to which key outcomes have been
achieved. Information from national surveys that include data on child labour will be analyzed to
monitor the change in the incidence and nature of child labour at the national level. Impact
monitoring results will be shared with the Ministry of Labour and its various bodies on child labour,
relevant government departments, target groups, ILO-IPEC’s partner agencies, and international
donor agencies. The impact monitoring results will feed into the final Programme evaluation.

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The existing data does not provide adequate information about the working children and child
labour. Therefore objectives of the Baseline Survey are to produce quantitative and in particular
qualitative data related to worst forms of child labour in the district of Sahiwal. The objectives are:
 To examine the dimension/magnitude of the child labour and especially the existence of
worst forms of child labour (WFCL) in the Sahiwal district and thus obtain a general frame of
the district in terms of child labour.
 To find out the causes and consequences of child labour in terms of socio-economic,
psychos-social and educational features;
 To collect information on the character, nature, size, and reasons for child labour in the
district of Sahiwal, and to determine the conditions of work and their effects on the health,
education and normal development of the working child. For this, data were collected about
different aspects of working children and their families, like:

11
 i. Demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Levels of education and training
(enrolments and attendance), occupations and skill-levels1, hours of work, earnings
and other working and living conditions.
ii. The migration status of the children and whether involvement in work has
determined the residence of the child/family. Households and individual members
change residence for various reasons. Migration is being measured from two
perspectives: change of household or family residential location during a specific
reference period and the reasons for migration, and the movement of children into
the household (to work or for other reasons) and out of the household (to work or
for other reasons).
iii. Where and how long children have been working and the factors that lead children
to work or families to put children to work.2
iv. The perceptions of the parents/guardians, children and employers about child
labour, regulations, legislation, etc.
v. Participation in programmes with a positive impact on the elimination of child
labour.
vi. Status of working children’s health and welfare.
 To establish a quantitative information system (database) on child labour that will be
updated partially or wholly as new information becomes available through additional
surveys and other administrative records. This information will be used for monitoring child
labour situation in the Sahiwal district during the project cycle.
 To provide a comprehensive analysis of the state of working children in the district Sahiwal
through identification of priority groups, patterns and analysis of working conditions and
their effects on working children. These should provide inputs towards developing policies
and action programmes for the elimination of child labour.
 To assess the socio-economic situation of the parents and assess their awareness and
attitude toward child labour.
 To recommend ameliorative action, specifically in terms of possible and workable
intervention measures to eliminate WFCL from the district of Sahiwal.
 To identify and understand the reasons for non-attendance / non-enrolment in school.

1
From the questionnaire it will be possible to determine the appropriate occupational category, using the International
Classification of Occupations (ISCO 1988), in which the child respondents are engaged. In the analysis stage, by cross-
classifying occupation by education, training and experience, it will be possible to derive the corresponding skill levels.

2
In accordance with the international resolution adopted by the 13th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (in
1982) as well as to the System of National Accounts (SNA) of 1993, any work or activity carried out by a person for pay
in-cash or in-kind, or for profit, or as unpaid worker for family gain during a specific reference period is defined as
economic activity. All other activities are considered non-economic (e.g household chores or work of a domestic nature
performed within own households, voluntary and charitable activities, etc.). Since children carry out unpaid household
services (housekeeping activities) in their own parents/guardians’ households, the child labour surveys are designed to
also inquire about children’s activities of this nature. Therefore, a child is considered to be working if she/he is reported
to have been engaged in an economic activity as defined above for at least one hour on any day during the reference
week, or during a certain number of months during the reference year, or in a non-economic activity during the
reference week if it exceeds a certain number of hours.

12
This was a household-based survey that investigated activities of children aged 5-17. The required
information were gathered by personal interviews with the heads of the household about general
demographic and economic characteristics of the household, and interviews from children 5-17
themselves regarding their activities, working conditions, reasons for work, perceptions of work,
future plans, etc. through a separate questionnaire. The methodology in the SIMPOC “Manual on
Methodologies for Data Collection through Surveys” was used for this survey.

1.3 CONTEXT OF CHILD LABOUR AND THE LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK.

It is interesting to look into overall description of child labour in laws governing child labour.
Different laws defined a ‘child’ differently creating confusion about who should be treated as child
until enactment of Employment of Children Act (ECA), 1991. This Act amended the definition of
‘child’ and ‘adolescent’ given in previous acts. Though there are strong laws for prohibition of child
labour in economy but may be its week implementing institutions that cannot control it according to
laws where they are. Here is a brief overview of legal status of child labour according some laws
pertaining to child labour.

1.3.1 The constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Constitution of Pakistan prohibits child labour through clause 3 of article 11 that “No Child below the
age of fourteen years shall be engaged in any factory or mine or any hazardous employment”. To
deal with supply side of child labour Article 25A says “State will provide free and compulsory
education to all children of the age of five to sixteen in such manner as may be deemed by law” (to
reduce supply of child labour). Moreover, Article 37e ensures that no child is being employed in
hazardous work by stating “The state shall make provision for securing just human conditions of
work, ensuring that women and children are not employed in vocation unsuited to their age or sex
and for maternity benefits for women in employment”.

With such strong constitutional cover, ideally, there should not be any child labour but reality is not
only different but also unpleasant. Here is quick view of laws about child labour.

1.3.2 Labour Policy of 2010

 “Children and young persons will be withdrawn and prevented from hazardous nature as,
for example, mining, tanneries, brick kilns, construction, and glass bangles etc“.
 The Government shall take legal as well as other measures to regulate and control the
employment of children in certain occupations……..”
 The employment of children less than 14 years will be eliminated, and the employment of
those between the ages of 14 and less than 18 years will be strictly controlled, through a
combination of stronger legislation and the introduction of labour extension services.

1.3.3 Mines Act 1923

 Defines a “child means a person who has not completed his fifteenth year” (but amended by
ECA, 1991 as fourteen year) and states:
 No child shall be employed in a mine, or be allowed to be present in any part of a mine
which is below ground.
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  No person who has not completed his seventeenth year shall be employed in any part of a
mine unless,
o a certificate of fitness in the prescribed form and granted to him by a qualified
medical practitioner is in the custody of the manager of the mine, and
o he carries while at work a token giving a reference to such certificate.

1.3.4 Factories Act 1934

 This Act defined a child as “who has not completed his fifteenth year” but now amended by
ECA, 1991 to fourteen years.
This Act states:
 No child who has not completed his fourteenth year shall be allowed to work in any factory.
 No woman or child shall be allowed in any factory to clean, lubricate or adjust any part of
machinery while that part is in motion………”
 No child or adolescent shall work at any machine unless he has been fully instructed……”
 No child who has completed his fourteenth year and no adolescent shall be allowed to work
in any factory unless
o a certificate of fitness granted to him under section 52 is in the custody of the
manager of the factory, and
o he carries while he is at work a token giving a reference to such certificate.
 No child shall be allowed to work in a factory for more than five hours in any day.

1.3.5 Employment of Children Act 1991

 No child (below 14 years of age) shall be employed or permitted to work in any of the
occupations set forth in Part I of the Schedule or in any workshop wherein any of the
processes set forth in Part II of that Schedule is carried on. Schedules are given below:
THE SCHEDULE
PART I- OCCUPATIONS
Any occupation connected with–
(1) transport of passengers, goods or mails;
(2) work in a catering establishment at a railway station, involving the movement of a vendor
or any other employee of the establishment from one platform to another or into or out
of a moving train;
(3) work relating to the construction of a railway station or with any other work where such
work is done in close proximity to or between the railway lines; and
(4) a port authority within the limits of any port.

PART II- PROCESSES

1. Work inside underground mines and above ground quarries including blasting and
assisting in blasting;
2. Work with power-driven cutting machinery like saws, shears, guillotines and agricultural
machines, thrashers and fodder cutting machines;
3. Work with live electrical wires over 50 volts;
4. All operations related to leather tanning process- e.g. soaking, dehairing, liming, chrome
tanning, deliming, pickling, defleshing, ink application;

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 5. Mixing and manufacture of pesticides and insecticides and fumigation;
6. Sand blasting and other work involving exposure to free silica;
7. Work with exposure to all toxic, explosive and carcinogenic chemicals- e.g. asbestos,
benzene, ammonia, chlorine, manganese, cadmium, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide,
sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, caustic soda, phosphorus, benzidene dyes,
isocyanates, carbon tetrachloride, carbon disulphide, epoxy resins, formaldehyde, metal
fumes, heavy metal like nickel, mercury chromium, lead, arsenic, beryllium, fiber glass;
8. Work with exposure to cement dust in cement industry;
9. Work with exposure to coal dust;
10. Manufacture and sale of fireworks and explosives;
11. Work at the sites where liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) is
filled in cylinders;
12. Work on glass and metal furnaces; and glass bangles manufacturing;
13. Work in the cloth weaving, printing, dyeing and finishing sections;
14. Work inside sewer pipelines, pits and storage tanks;
15. Stone crushing;
16. Lifting and carrying of heavy weight (15 kg and above) specially in transport industry;
17. Carpet weaving;
18. Working two meters or more above the floor;
19. All scavenging including hospital waste;
20. Tobacco processing and manufacturing including niswar and bidi making;
21. Deep-sea fishing, commercial fishing and processing of fish & seafood;
22. Sheep casing and wool industry;
23. Ship breaking;
24. Surgical instruments manufacturing specially in vendors’ workshops;
25. Spice grinding;
26. Work in broiler house;
27. Work in cinemas, mini-cinemas and cyber clubs;
28. Mica cutting and splitting;
29. Shellas manufacturing;
30. Soap manufacturing;
31. Wool cleaning;
32. Building and construction industry;
33. Manufacture of slate pencil including packing;
34. Manufacture of products from agate.

1.3.6 West Pakistan Shops and Establishments Ordinance, 1969

 According to this Act, a "child" was meant a person who has not completed his twelfth year
of age but later on amended by ECA, 1991 to fourteen years.
 No child shall be required or allowed to work in any establishment.
 No young person shall be required or permitted to work in any establishment in excess of
seven hours a day and forty-two hours a week

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1.3.7 Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1992

 On the commencement of this Act, the bonded labour system shall stand abolished and
every bonded labourer shall stand freed and discharged from any obligation to render any
bonded labour.
 No person shall make any advance under, or in pursuance of, the bonded labour system or
compel any person to render any bonded labour or other form of forced, labour.

Previously, different laws above gave unclear message about age of child, status of child between
15-17 (child less than 17 is allowed to work if he gets a certificate from designated person) and hours
of work. Enactment of ECA, 1991 at least standardise age of children in any establishment or
process. But just enactment of law may not be sufficient until there is strong mechanism of
implementation. This situation is described by Deborah De Fina (1992) “Child labour laws in Pakistan
are varied, confusing, and sporadically enforced. They give different minimum age for different
economic sectors, exempt small enterprises, agriculture, and family work altogether, raise minimum
age to different heights for various hazards, and violations can range from merely obstructing labour
inspectors to the actual employment of minors. Given this confusion, it is almost not surprising that
children are employed throughout the economy with little regard for the law.”

1.4 SUPPLY SIDE OF CHILD LABOUR

Parents and guardians complain about availability of education facility and jobs after education.
They think that instead of wasting time in school, child should learn some skill to earn. Though
Government of Punjab enacted an Act for compulsory education that says, “The parent of a child
shall, except in the case of a reasonable excuse, cause a child to attend a primary school until the
child has completed the primary education course.” One of the excuses is “Where there is no school
within a distance of two kilometres measured according to the nearest route from the residence of
the child.” If we see village statistics of Punjab it reveals that “13 percent of villages have primary
schools at distance of 1 to 10 km, for middle school this percentage is 63, while average distance in
Punjab is 4km and 6km in case of middle school (Government of Punjab, 2008). Secondly, education
is one of the most neglected sectors of Pakistan Economy that don’t have enough funds for
development. According to Economic Survey of Pakistan (2009-10) “Public expenditure on
education, as percentage to GDP, is the lowest in Pakistan as compared to other countries of the
South Asian region. According to official data, Pakistan allocated 2.5% of GDP during 2006‐07, 2.47%
in 2007‐08, 2.1% in 2008‐09 and 2.0 % in 2009‐10 which shows persistent declining.” (Government
of Pakistan, 2009-10)

1.4 ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT

This report presents a picture of child labour in the pilot district of Punjab Province i.e. Sahiwal. In
this report first chapter gives an introduction to the subject and background of this survey, second
chapter describes methodology of data collection and some basic concepts and definition of child
labour. Chapter 3 gives characteristics of working children households and their comparison with
households without working children. In chapter 4, salient features of employment of member of
households were given that included type of employment and conditions of work. These two
chapters (3 & 4) actually give an overview of condition and environment in which working children

16
live and situation where they decide to enter labour market. Chapter 5 presents employment status
of children and type of job they were doing in survey period. Chapter 6 gives detail of children
education, their schooling and if they were not in school, reasons to leave school. Chapter 7
discusses about magnitude child labour their working hours and determinants of child labour.
Chapter 8 is about impact of labour on schooling of children, their health and safety, and probes the
types of exploitation they face at work and it impact on performance in education and risk to their
safety and health. In 9th chapter, there are some policy implications and recommendations based on
risks exposed to children at work. Last section consists of Annexure that contains relevant
information about this base line survey and data like questionnaire used, information about authors,
list of hazardous work etc.

Chapter Two: SURVEY METHODOLOGY, TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTATION

2.1 SCOPE AND COVERAGE

The child labour survey was conducted in district Sahiwal in October 2010. The basic aim of the
survey was, to estimate the incidence of Child Labour in District Sahiwal and to identify the causes
and consequences of Child Labour in terms of socio-economic dynamics.

2.2 CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS USED FOR SURVEY

The Child Labour Survey employed the following concepts to determine and segregate the
categories into working child, child labour, hazardous condition and worst form of child labour. The
concepts and definitions used for the survey were: 3

2.2.1 Production boundary

The 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA) definitions for the above concepts were adopted that
defines production boundary in terms of the activities carried out under the control and
responsibility of institutional units (i.e. non-financial and financial corporations, government units,
non-profit institutions and households, including unincorporated enterprises owned by households
that use inputs of labour, capital, goods and services to produce outputs of goods or services). It
includes the production of all goods within the production boundary, whether destined for the
market or for own final use. This definition of production boundary covers market activities’, or
‘market production’, ‘non-market economic activities’, or ‘non-market production’.

2.2.2 Economic activity

For economic activity, the survey adopted the SNA’s definition “the production of goods and
services”. The economically active population comprises all persons of either sex who furnish the
supply of labour for the production of economic goods and services during a specified time-
reference period.

3
Concepts and definitions had been adopted from National child labour survey: Interviewer’s manual / International
Labour Office, International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), Statistical Information and Monitoring
Programme on Chid Labour (SIMPOC) - Geneva: ILO, 2009.

17
2.2.3 The economically active population
The survey deployed the concept of ‘currently economically active population’ and ‘usually
economically active population’. The currently economically active population was defined as those
persons who were engaged in any economic activity in the last week at the time of survey. While
‘usual economic activity’ was defined as, in any economic activity the surveyed population was
engaged in last 12 months.

2.2.4 Employed
Individuals were defined as employed if they were engaged for one or more hours during the
reference period in the production of economic goods and/or services for pay or profit or without
pay in a family farm/business or if they did not work but had a job or business from which they were
temporarily absent.

2.2.5 Out of the labour force

Individuals neither employed nor unemployed are considered to be out of the labour force.
Examples include students, homemakers, individuals who have given up looking for work
(‘discouraged workers’) and retired individuals.

2.2.6 Non-economic activity

Activities that fall outside the production boundary of the UN SNA are considered to be ‘non-
economic activity’. Such activities include services rendered by and for household members, such as
preparing and serving meals; mending, washing and ironing clothes; shopping; caring for siblings and
sick/disabled household members; cleaning and maintaining the household dwelling; repairing
household durables; transporting household members and their goods; etc.

2.2.7 Household tasks

Household services carried out by and for household members, such as preparing and serving meals;
mending, washing and ironing clothes; shopping; caring for siblings and sick/disabled household
members; cleaning and maintaining the household dwelling; repairing household durables; and
transporting household members and their goods are non-economic activities that are referred to as
‘household tasks’.

2.2.8 Occupation
An occupation was defined in the survey, a type of economic activity that a person usually pursued
to earn income in cash or in kind. If an individual had more than one occupation during the
reference period, the occupation in which the maximum working hours were spent was considered
to be his/her main occupation. If equal time was spent in the two occupations, the one that
provided the larger share of income was designated as the main occupation.

2.2.9 Industry
Industry was defined as all types of establishments or businesses in which individuals were engaged
in the production and/or distribution of goods and services during the reference period.

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2.2.10 Household
A household is defined as a person or group of persons who lived together in the same house or
compound, who shared the same housekeeping arrangements and who were catered for as one
unit. Members of a household were not necessarily related to each other either by blood or
marriage. In order to be considered a household member, an individual must have resided with the
other household members in the dwelling for at least 6 months till the time of survey.

2.2.11 Child
A child is defined as an individual who was under 18 years of age at the time of the survey. The Child
Labour Survey interviewed children between the ages of 5 and 17 years for the C part of
questionnaire from the households having working children.

2.2.12 Child labour

For the Child Labour Survey ‘child labour’ was defined as all persons aged 5-17 years who, during a
specified time period fall on any one of following categories:
 A child under 12 who is economically active for 1 or more hours per week,
 A child 12-14 who is economically active for at least 14 hours per week,
 A child 15-17 who is economically active for at least 43 hours per week
 A child 5-17 who participates in activities that are "hazardous by nature or circumstance" for
1 or more hours per week
 A child 5-17 who participates in an "unconditional worst form of child labour" such as
trafficked children, children in bondage or forced labour, armed conflict, prostitution,
pornography, illicit activities.

2.2.13 Hazardous work

Hazardous work was defined as work that by either its nature or the circumstances, in which it was
carried out, was likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.
Hazardous work could also derive from excessive workload, physical conditions and/or intensity in
terms of the duration or hours of work even where the activity or occupation is known to be non-
hazardous or safe.
The following criteria are used for identification of hazardous child work:
• any child working in mining and construction was considered to be in a hazardous work;
• beyond mining and construction a number of occupations were considered to be of hazardous
natures for example, work with heavy machinery or exposure to pesticides;
• any child below the age of 18 working 43 hours or more a week was considered to be in a
hazardous work.

2.2.14 Worst forms of child labour

Worst forms of child labour were defined as
 all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children,
debt bondage and serfdom, as well as forced or compulsory labour, including forced or
compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;

19
 the use, procurement or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or
for pornographic performances;
 the use, procurement or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production
and trafficking of drugs, as defined in relevant international treaties; and
 children employed in hazardous work.

2.3 SAMPLE DESIGN

2.3.1 Clusters Formation and Selection

To reduce the heterogeneity prevailing within a target population that may increase variations,
Cluster Sampling technique had been deployed (CRS) with equal allocation for the purpose of better
representative sample. The updated list of thirty enumeration blocks, ten urban and twenty rural of
the Sahiwal district was provided by FBS. In these thirty enumeration blocks, 27 clusters were
formed in urban areas and 129 clusters were formed in rural areas. Each of the clusters had 100
households on average. Thirty clusters were selected randomly, 10 for urban areas and 20 for rural
areas for screening households. A 100 percent households listing been carried out in the selected
clusters for screening the households with incidences of child labour. An exclusively devised
screening questionnaire had been used to identify working children and their households in the
clusters. In each cluster, 10 households having working children were selected randomly through
random table method. (27 urban 129 rural clusters)
However, if the entire randomly selected cluster had no households with incidence of working
children, they were administered part I and II of the questionnaire to use them as denominator for
the survey.
From the whole target population a sample size is following.
Screening questionnaire n = 3000 (100 from each Selected cluster)
Household questionnaire n = 310 (from 30 Selected clusters)

2.3.2 Household Selection

A 100 percent households listing been carried out in the selected clusters for screening the
households with incidences of working children. An exclusively devised screening questionnaire had
been used to identify working children households in the clusters. In each cluster, 10 households of
working children were selected randomly through random table method. In the cluster, only working
children positive household were targeted for the random selection.

2.3.3 Screening Questionnaire (Screening)

The screening questionnaire was designed to provide information on: name of household head; size
of the household i.e. total number of household members; total number of children of age 5-17 in
the household; number of children (5-17) in the household not attending to school; number of
children (5-17) who were not attending to school and worked during the last week; number of
children attending to school; number of children who were attending to school as well as worked
during the last week. This questionnaire had been administered to the most knowledgeable member
of household. Those households were screened for the random selection whose children were
either not attending to school or worked last week or they (children) were attending to school as
well as worked during the last week.
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All children of age 5-17 were interviewed from the randomly selected households with incidences of
working children. This approach had been adopted to determine the exact nature/form and working
conditions of the child labour by interviewing the explicitly involved child as well as school going and
working children.

2.4 SURVEY TOOLS

2.4.1 Structured screening and household questionnaires

The Child Labour Survey employed quantitative method. Two types of structured questionnaires
were used for data collection. The first type, screening questionnaire had been used for household
listing to screen out households with working children as sample unit for the Child Labour Survey.
While second type of household questionnaire that comprised three parts containing a total of 122
questions and was further divided into 12 sections. Parts I and II were addressed to the most
knowledgeable adult member of the selected households, and Part III was administered directly to
all children in the selected household.

2.4.1.2 Questionnaire Part I

Part I (Adult Questionnaire) was designed to gather information on the household composition and
demographic structure, the educational attainment of household members and their labour market
outcomes. Part I included six sections:
Section I: Household composition and characteristics of all household members.
Section II: Educational attainment of all household members age 5 and above 10
Section III: Current economic activity status of all household members age 5 and above. Section IV:
Usual employment status of all household members age 5 and above.
Section V: Household tasks performed by children ages 5-17.
Section VI: Parents’/guardians’ perceptions/observations about working children ages 5-17)

2.4.1.3 Questionnaire Part II

The purpose of Part II (Household Characteristics) was to gather information on the socioeconomic
characteristics of the household and any recent changes in it. Part II included two sections, as
follows: Section VII: Housing and household characteristics. Section VIII: Household socio-economic
status.

2.4.1.4 Questionnaire Part III

Part III included four sections, as follows:
Section IX: Educational attainment of all children ages 5-17. Section X: Current economic activity
status of all children ages 5-17. Section XI: Health and safety issues related to working children ages
5-17. Section XII: Household tasks of children ages 5-17.
The purpose of Part III (Child Questionnaire) was to collect information on the educational
attainment of all children ages 5-17 years, their labour market outcomes, household tasks and
health and safety issues. It was directly administered to all children of age 5-17 in the randomly
selected households because they could provide more accurate information about their health,
safety working conditions than adults.

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2.5 DATA COLLECTION

A team comprised of 13 members conducted the child labour survey in Sahiwal district. Before the
fieldwork, the enumerators were trained in a two days training session to implement the survey. The
team was further divided into two teams comprised of five enumerators under a team supervisor.
The survey coordinator was the over all in charge and supervisor of both the teams. Each team had
been assigned a separate cluster daily. The team supervisors had been provided with maps of
assigned clusters - that were formed before the beginning of data collection - lists of screened
households and sampled households through random table method. Team’s supervisors were
responsible:
i) to allocate the selected households to the enumerators,
ii) to cross check the identity of the household against the selected sample list,
iii) and to obtain consent of the household for interview by explaining the purpose.
First the enumerators used to complete part I and Part II of household questionnaire with the most
knowledgeable members of the household. After that part III was completed by interviewing all
children in households. The enumerators were instructed to complete all the three parts of the
questionnaire in one session before they go to next household. This strategy had been adopted to
maintain consistency and flow of information regarding the same household. Some households and
their children were interviewed in their seasonal farmhouses. In the farming season they along with
their livestock temporarily shift from the main village to the farmhouses.
To ensure that children answer the questions freely, we employed female enumerators so that
children wouldn’t feel shy, and that worked well. It was also instructed to the enumerators to ensure
privacy, particularly for children and interview them alone, in the absence of any adult.

2.6 DATA PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS

Data entry process was carried out at SDPI Network Computer Laboratory. Different key activities
were simultaneously undertaken. The pre-coded responses were converted into an electronic
database, SPSS to be more specific, as required by the ToR. An intensive data cleaning and data
consistency checks (e.g., universal frequency tables) were conducted by M&E specialist who is
trained SPSS database specialist, in order to assure the quality of the data. The missing data and
other data entry problems were addressed in response to the initial data quality reports.

2.7 RESPONSE RATES

In spite of limitations and concerns, the households cooperated with the team and responded well
except for two households that we have to replace. In one of the household, the child was not
available during the survey period because of his work in other district. In second one, child seemed
to be above 18. In these two cases, we replaced the households with the next household on the
random list.

2.8 DATA QUALITY CONTROL MEASURES

22
At field, a three level strategy for quality control had been deployed during data collection. At the
first level, team supervisors were responsible to observe interviews as a real time monitoring and
thoroughly check all questionnaires at evening to provide feedback, if any, to the enumerators.
At the second level, SDPI survey coordinator was present in the field during the entire survey and to
check whether the supervisors and enumerators exactly follow the random sample, conceptual
clarity of the enumerators regarding the survey definitions, questions and to check the data on the
spot. A part from spot checking, the survey coordinator also used to crosscheck the data after final
checking by supervisors.
At third stage, ILO’s Sahiwal office was monitoring the survey during data collection. They used to
randomly select questionnaire from the completed clusters and cross-checked them with
households.
Post field quality control was the responsibility of SDPI’s Monitoring and Evaluation specialist. The
entire data had been entered under the supervision of M&E specialist. During data entry operation
the M&E was checking the trend of data and sought necessary clarifications from survey unit till end
processing.

2.9 CHALLENGES, LIMITATIONS AND LESSONS

It was one of the most challenging surveys due to several reasons, first, survey required detailed and
sensitive information on a social issues. Respondents have to recall information from their past that
was difficult to verify. Second, in completion of one questionnaire (B part I, II and III) the
enumerators had to interview several members. So, the locating working adults and children to
complete a single household interview was a tedious job. Even, for part I, the respondent was
required to provide information on every member of the household. For this the teams had to make
several visits to complete a single household interview and many respondents, mostly; children were
interview at night time.
Third challenge was the length of questionnaire, repeated questions and complex nature of the
skipping was a challenge to handle that was overcome by rigorous training of enumerators.
Fourth, the extensive geographical coverage of the survey: the clusters were scattered throughout
the Sahiwal district and that was a challenge in terms of logistics, financial resources as well as time
management.
Fifth, timing of the survey was also a challenge: The survey was conducted in October 2010 in the
aftermath of the great flood that hit hard the neighbouring districts of South Punjab. Consequently,
numerous national and internal humanitarian organizations were involved in providing relief goods.
Though the flood did not directly affect district Sahiwal but as ripple effect, the relief activities in the
affected district had also created a wave of expectations for aid in surveyed population.
However, SDPI’s team, capitalizing on its vast and diverse field experience and allocated maximum
human and financial resource succeeded in overcoming these challenges and successfully conducted
the survey. To mitigate and overcome the challenges, qualified and experienced local enumerators
were hired. They were further trained in an intensive and extensive two days training sessions and
were passed through repeated mock interviews, which enabled them to grasp fully the concepts,
logic, sequence, flow of questions and skips. Besides, in addition to the supervisors, local resource
persons were hired for assisting the supervisors in identifying/verifying the selected households,
23
locating the respondents and helping enumerators access to the respondents. Logistic provision and
incentives were increased for the team. SDPI’s survey coordinator was part of the field team to
facilitate coordination, to take timely decisions regarding fieldwork, provide guidance, feedback and
motivation.
Last but not the least, ‘National child labour survey interviewer’s manual of ILO was of source of
tremendous guidance as reference material during the training and field work.

The complex surveys, like Child Labour Survey, need to be conducted in normal situation to tame
expectations. The simple design of survey instrument corresponding to the local circumstance and
reduced layers of respondents could prove more effective. The capacity of implementing
partner/agency and its commitment toward the objectives of the study matter.

24
CHAPTER THREE: CHARACTERISTICS OF HOUSEHOLDS AND HOUSEHOLD
MEMBERS HAVING WORKING CHILDREN

This chapter explores conditions in which working children live. It’s a common notion that working
children usually come from poorer household that have less amenities and lower standard of living
compared to non-working children households. Not only their households, but members of family
like their guardian, parents or elders are different in a way that they have lower literacy and
consequently, low paying jobs that keep them in vicious cycle of poverty.

3.1 DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION BY AGE AND SEX

As mentioned in methodology, more clusters were selected from rural areas than urban areas. So,
rural population would be more than urban population. Weighted distribution of survey population
is given in table 1.
Table 1: Distribution of Population by Sex (Estimated) in rural and urban areas

Area in District
Gender Urban Rural Total
Number Table N % Number Table N % Number Table N %
Male 17684 4.5% 184515 46.9% 202199 51.4%
Female 16288 4.1% 175269 44.5% 191556 48.6%
Total 33972 8.6% 359783 91.4% 393755 100.0%

Sample clusters having about 0.393 million people were selected, of which 91.4 and 8.6 percent
were rural and urban settlements, respectively. Distribution of surveyed population look skewed
towards rural areas. National average of urban population is 36 percent while in Sahiwal this
percentage is 16.38 (according to 1998 Census) that were not consistent with our survey population.
Difference between Sahiwal urban population and survey population is due to sampling technique.
Allocation of sample into urban and rural domains of Sahiwal was made based of square root of
proportional allocation. Hence more samples were allocated to urban areas equivalent to
33.33% against actual share of 18% as per Population Census 1998. For national sample surveys, 40%
sample size is allocated to urban domain against actual share of 32% as per Population Census1998.
Hence, a higher proportion of sample was allocated to urban part to produce valid estimates. The
application of sampling weights may not be used to work out estimates of population as these are
different and meant for working children population.

3.2 HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION

In previous section gender distribution of overall household members were discussed. In this
section, comparison is presented between households having working child and otherwise.
Following table presents composition of household with respect to age.

Table 2: Distribution of population by age in not/working children households

25
 Number of household members
Age groups In Working Child HH In non-working Child HH Total
Number Column N % Number Column N % Count Column N %
< 5 year 1124 6.1% 30721 8.2% 31845 8.1%
5-17 years 6115 33.2% 181973 48.5% 188089 47.8%
18-34 years 6846 37.2% 61262 16.3% 68108 17.3%
35-54 year 3688 20.0% 73569 19.6% 77257 19.6%
55 plus 629 3.4% 27827 7.4% 28456 7.2%
Total 18403 100.0% 375352 100.0% 393755 100.0%

This table shows that in households having working child, percentage of children was more than that
of non-working child households. Other difference is observed in age group 18-36 years. In this age
group percentage was significantly higher than household having working child. From this table it
emerges that fertility rate in household reporting working children is more than households having
no working child.

3.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF DWELLING UNITS

Economic status of household is reflected by assets and amenities they have in their home. It can be
presumed that amenities and assets have a negative relation with poverty. And incidence of working
child is more likely in poorer households. In this way it can be expected that working children
households may have less accommodation, less access to amenities. Following tables show number
and percentage of households with/out working children having these facilities. Total number of
households may be different in these tables because responses to these questions were not given by
some of the households.

3.3.1 Rooms used for Sleeping

Type, size and material of home describe the economic status of household. To check whether there
is difference between households reporting working child and otherwise, following table was made
to shows the number of rooms available for sleeping in the homes.
Table 3: Number of rooms in households

Non-working Children Households Working Children households

Number of rooms
Count Column N % Count Column N %
1 75 3.7% 14110 29.1%
2 521 25.5% 21761 44.8%
3 914 44.7% 8506 17.5%
4 536 26.2% 2591 5.3%
5 0 .0% 1292 2.7%
6 0 .0% 281 .6%
Total 2046 100.0% 48542 100.0%

This table shows that about 45 percent of the households with working child have only two rooms to
live and 17 percent have three rooms. While in non-working child households, about 45 percent

26
have three rooms to live and 26 percent have four rooms. This shows that majority of the
households reporting working child have two or less rooms to live. Average number of rooms per
household is 3 and 2 for non-working and working child households respectively.
These figures show that household with working children have less amenities compared to non-
working child households. This may be due to the fact that working children belong to poorer
households.

3.3.2 Domestic Energy Sources

Source of energy also reflects economic status of the households. Gas is preferred source of energy
in Pakistan for cooking and heating while electricity is prime source of energy for lighting. Poor
households collect wood for cooking and heating and those who have cattle, burn dried dung-cakes.
Following tables show sources of energy for cooking, heating and lighting.
Table 4: Households reporting sources of energy for cooking
Energy Source Non-working Children household Working Children household
Number Column N % Number Column N %
Wood 1595 66.7% 43480 83.9%
Coal 0 .0% 0 .0%
Kerosene 0 .0% 0 .0%
Gas 795 33.3% 5853 11.3%
Electricity 0 .0% 225 .4%
Solar 0 .0% 0 .0%
Other 0 .0% 2251 4.3%
Total 2389 100.0% 51808 100.0%
This table showed expected results that about 84 percent households with working children used
wood for cooking compared to 67 percent in non-working child households. Similarly, fewer
households with working children have access to gas compared to other households. About 3
percent used other sources of energy that may be animal dung-cakes. While main source of energy
for non-working child households is gas that produces less smoke. Use of wood creates problems of
indoor pollution due to smoke that affects health of household members. Similarly, source of energy
for heating for most of the non-working child is gas as shown in following table.
Table 5: Households reporting sources of energy for heating

Non-working children households Working Children households

sources of energy
Number Column N % Number Column N %
Wood 574 28.0% 11191 25.9%
Coal 618 30.2% 5195 12.0%
Kerosene 0 .0% 0 .0%
Gas 151 7.4% 3138 7.3%
Electricity 704 34.4% 23269 53.8%
Solar 0 .0% 82 .2%
Other 0 .0% 363 .8%
Total 2046 100.0% 43238 100.0%

27
As most of the households with working children were in rural areas where they had less access to
gas, therefore gas is not main source of energy for cooking or heating. Urban population has access
to gas so main source of energy is gas for cooking and heating. This table showed a mixed trend
where working children households have access to better sources of energy for heating.
In contrast to heating and cooking, electricity is the only source of lighting. Table below shows
responses of households reporting sources of energy for lighting.

Table 6: Households reporting sources of energy for lighting

source of energy No Working Children Working Children

Number Column N % Number Column N %
Wood 0 .0% 479 .9%
Coal 0 .0% 0 .0%
Kerosene 0 .0% 490 .9%
Gas 0 .0% 530 1.0%
Electricity 2314 96.8% 49459 95.5%
Solar 0 .0% 582 1.1%
Other 75 3.2% 268 .5%
Total 2389 100% 51808 100%
This table showed that almost all of the households whether working children or not, use electricity
as main sources for lighting.

3.3.3 Source of Water for Drinking

Following table shows sources of drinking water in households with and without working children.
Table 7: Households reporting drinking water facility

Non-working children Working Children

Sources of Drinking water households households
Number Column N % Number Column N %
Pipe-borne inside house 1438 60.2% 28086 55.7%
Pipe-borne outside house 0 .0% 3697 7.3%
Tanker service 0 .0% 0 .0%
River/stream 0 .0% 0 .0%
Bore-hole/tubewell 951 39.8% 15006 29.8%
Well 0 .0% 0 .0%
Dug out/pond 0 .0% 2210 4.4%
Rain water 0 .0% 0 .0%
Other 0 .0% 1407 2.8%
Total 2389 100.0% 50406 100.0%
Above table shows same picture that previous table were showing about household facilities. Pipe
borne inside house is better facility that 60.2 percent of households with no working child have,
compared to 55.7% of households with working child. On the other hand 29.8% of households
having working children use bore hole/tub well for drinking water while 39.8% of household having
no working child use same source for drinking water. No household found who utilize well water or
rain water for drinking in both cases in Sahiwal. Household having working child use drinking water

28
through Dug out/ pond are 4.4% of total where no household found in other case. Similarly 2.8% of
the household having working child use other method for drinking water.

3.4 EDUCATION LEVELS OF ADULTS (18 AND ABOVE)

For poor household, that have problem in maintaining their day-to-day expenses, education is
luxury. When there is some problem in livelihood, child’s education suffers the most. Similarly adults
in working children households are less educated. So there is nexus between poverty and illiteracy.
Following table presents the table about literacy of adults of households.
Table 8: Education of household members 18 and above

Number and percentage of Adults in

Gender Literate Non-working Children households Working Children households
Number Column N % Number Column N %
Male Yes 3395 83.6% 37812 45.4%
No 668 16.4% 45389 54.6%
Female Yes 5687 80.1% 17387 21.9%
No 1414 19.9% 62070 78.1%
Among household with working children, about 54.6 percent adult male members cannot read or
write with understanding. Compared to this, non child labour households have about 16.4 percent
illiterate members. Difference in female members of household is wider; in working children
households only 22 percent women are literate compared to non-working members where this
percent is 80. This may be due location of households because most of the working children
households are in rural areas and, in general, literacy in rural areas is lower than urban areas.
Poverty may be another reason because illiterate people don’t have better jobs and get less income
and perpetuate poverty to next generation.

3.4.1 Highest Levels of Grades

Keeping view illiteracy of working children households, we can expect that even literate members
would not have higher grades. Data about the school level from which they dropped out was
presented in following table.
Table 9: Highest level of school attended by adult members of households

Number of adults dropped out in

School level Non-working Children Working Children households
Number Column N % Number Column N %
Pre-school 0 .0% 1922 3.5%
Primary 3322 42.7% 26448 47.7%
Secondary 955 12.3% 14891 26.8%
High school 2595 33.3% 10639 19.2%
University or higher 912 11.7% 1457 2.6%
Non standard curriculum 0 .0% 0 .0%
Don't know 0 .0% 135 .2%
This table shows that literate people in working children households did not have quality education
if they have any. In non-working children households 33.3 percent members have high school

29
education and about 12 percent have university of higher education. These figures for working
children are 19.2 and 2.6 percent.

3.4.2 Main Reasons for Never Attending Schools

Adults of household, when they were children, they may have faced same problems. Same reasons
for what they are not able to send their children to school. Out of 300 households, 256 reported
working children. So, in terms of magnitude, numbers are not comparable. To see the frequency of
different reasons within household group column percentage was used.
Table 10: Distribution of adults by reasons for not going school

Number of adults
Main reasons Non-working Children Working Children
households households
Count Column N % Count Column N %
Too young 0 .0% 643 .6%
Disabled/illness 0 .0% 1733 1.7%
No School/ school too far 0 .0% 11167 11.1%
Cannot afford schooling 1471 70.7% 29172 29.0%
Family did not allow schooling 343 16.5% 31100 30.9%
Not interested in school 268 12.9% 16009 15.9%
Education not considered valuable 0 .0% 4807 4.8%
School not safe 0 .0% 140 .1%
To learn a job 0 .0% 2164 2.1%
To work for pay 0 .0% 1656 1.6%
To work as unpaid worker in family 0 .0% 135 .1%
business/farm
Help at home with household chores 0 .0% 1860 1.8%
Other 0 .0% 57 .1%
Total 2082 members were in non-working children households. They reported only three reasons as
shown in table but most frequent was affordability of education. As mentioned in first chapter,
government spends little on education and public schools are far from their access. We are talking
about adult members, in their childhood, education was not free. So it is understandable that might
not be able to afford schooling.
In working child households, other reasons were also reported. One of them was value of education.
People see that if their elders could live without education, so they also can without realizing cost of
illiteracy. About 31 percent mentioned that family didn’t allow. This might be due to poverty that
family heads thought they cannot afford education.

3.5 HOUSEHOLD’S MAIN SOURCE OF LIVELIHOODS

Most of the working children household live in rural areas so they are engaged in agricultural works.
Following is the percentage distribution of household adults in different profession.
Table 11: Main occupations of adults of households

Number of Adults in

30
 Main occupations Non-working Children HH Working Children HH
Count Column N % Count Column N %
Cotton Picker 801 7.2% 30162 18.5%
Farmer 574 5.1% 15039 9.2%
Animal Keeper 0 .0% 11753 7.2%
Cultivator 135 1.2% 10000 6.1%
Labour (Construction etc) 801 7.2% 9062 5.6%
Tailor 151 1.3% 4689 2.9%
Salesman 686 6.1% 3750 2.3%
Driver 160 1.4% 3100 1.9%
Worker (Factory, mills, hotel etc) 75 .7% 2759 1.7%
Loading 0 .0% 2598 1.6%
Teacher 268 2.4% 1812 1.1%
Brick Making 0 .0% 1478 .9%
Others 720 6.4% 14292 8.8%

This table shows most frequent occupation of households. In working children household people are
engaged in cotton picking and farming. While in non-working children household besides cotton
pickers, there are sales men and labourers as well.

31
CHAPTER FOUR: EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF ADULT HOUSEHOLD
MEMBERS OF WORKING CHILDREN.
This section deals with employment status of adult members of households therefore table in this
section present data about the age groups 18 and above.

4.1 CURRENT ACTIVITY STATUS OF HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS

Employed population of household may work on own family farm, shop or may be employed by
others. Data about employment status is presented in flowing table.

Table 12: Status in Employment of adult members of households

Number of Adults in
Status in Employment Non-working Children HH Working Children HH
Number Column N % Number Column N %
Employee 1720 39.4% 59556 54.7%
Own account worker 2307 52.8% 30365 27.9%
Employer 75 1.7% 1704 1.6%
Member of producers' cooperative 0 .0% 0 .0%
Unpaid family worker 268 6.1% 17215 15.8%
Total 4370 100.0% 108840 100.0%
This table shows that most of the people are either employees or they work on their own enterprise.
There is visible different in type of employment in households reporting working children and
others. In working children households majority is employees while in others majority works at their
own farm/shop or enterprise. This is also due to farm labour employed in cotton picking and other
agricultural operations on others farms.

4.2 WORKING MEMBERS OF HOUSEHOLDS (PERCENTAGE OF)

Following table present the employment status of the household reporting no/working children.
Table 13: Percentage of adult population employed

Number of Adults in
Employment status Non-working Children HH Working Children HH
Number Column N % Number Column N %
Male Not employed 870 21.4% 11298 13.6%
Employed 3193 78.6% 71903 86.4%
Total 4063 100.0% 83201 100.0%
Female Not employed 5923 83.4% 40866 51.4%
Employed 1177 16.6% 38591 48.6%
Total 7100 100.0% 79457 100.0%

32
This table presents very interesting picture where in household reporting working children females
work more than other households. About 86 percent of the male and about 49 percent female
household members are employed in working children households. In other households only 16.6
percent females are working. This may be due to the fact that working children households work on
farm I cotton picking where most of the females are employed.

4.3 EMPLOYMENT BY TYPE OF CONTRACT

As seen above most of the population lives in rural areas and are employed on the farm so there is a
little chance that people have written contract of their employment. Most of the workers are
employed since years without any written contract. Even in urban areas where people work on
casual basis, there is no practice of writing terms and conditions or wages. Following table presents
data about formality of employment contracts.
Table 14: Percentage of adult population in employment by type of contract

HH reporting
Type of contract Duration No Working Children Working Children
Number Table N % Number Table N %
A written contract Limited duration 0 .0% 840 1.4%
Unlimited duration 75 .1% 665 1.1%
Don't know 0 .0% 270 .5%
A verbal agreement Limited duration 0 .0% 0 .0%
Unlimited duration 1484 2.5% 38773 66.5%
Don't know 75 .1% 1036 1.8%
Don't know Limited duration 0 .0% 0 .0%
Unlimited duration 0 .0% 907 1.6%
Don't know 85 .1% 14105 24.2%

Percentage figures in this table are based on overall cell of tables i.e. aggregate of all cell of the table
will be 100. If we see there are only two categories that unlimited verbal agreement and don’t know.
As described above farm labour has unlimited verbal contract that’s why there are 66.5 percent of
population that fall in this category. Other even don’t know about their type of contract.

4.4 PLACE OF WORK

Following table presents number and percentage of people working at different places. Place of
work may be different in working and non-working child households because of their location and
sector in which they work.
Table 15: Workplaces of employed persons of different households

Number of Adults in
Work places Non-working Children HH Working Children HH
Number Column N % Number Column N %
At family dwelling 0 .0% 8111 7.7%

33
Client's place 0 .0% 2246 2.2%
Formal office 343 7.9% 2152 2.0%
Factory/ Atelier 532 12.2% 8591 8.1%
Plantation/farm/garden 1204 27.5% 49859 47.2%
Construction Sites 0 .0% 1372 1.3%
Mines/quarry 0 .0% 537 .5%
Shop/Kiosk/coffee 1104 25.3% 6852 6.5%
house/restaurant/hotel
Different places (mobile) 961 22.0% 20295 19.2%
Fixed, street or market stall 75 1.7% 1464 1.4%
Pond/ Lake / river 0 .0% 0 .0%
Other 151 3.4% 3956 3.7%
Total 4370 100.0% 105574 100.0%

This table shows that in working children household majority of persons work on farm followed by
‘different places’ i.e. their work as casual labourer at different places. But non-working child
household have variety of places to work that includes factory (12.2 percent) shops (25.3 percent)
and farms 27.5 percent because most of them belong to urban areas where these option are
available.

4.5 HOURS OF WORK

As discussed in previous section, most of the workers don’t have written contract of employment
specifying their terms and conditions, hours of work or additional benefits. This is something based
on mutual understanding and consent. However, employer, being in better position have tendency
to exploit workers in terms of their working hours. In rural areas, landlord can order anything to
their labour or tenants and they have to comply with.
Following table shows average number of hours that workers of different age groups do during their
employments.
Table 16: Average number of hour per week doing by different age groups

Average hours of work of adults in

Age categories Non-working Children HH Working Children HH
Mean Mean
18-34 years 69 52
35-54 year 57 50
55 plus 60 47

This table show average working hours of adult member of household in both working and non-
working households. Household not reporting working children work more this may be because in
working children household not only adult but females and children also work. Due to distribution of
work among all family member number may be lower than non-working child household.

4.6 SUPPLEMENTARY WORK

34
People are overloaded with main work as shown in previous table. They work more than 42 hours a
week. They don’t have additional time to work on supplementary job. Following table show
percentage of people working on supplementary job.
Table 17: Percentage of people working supplementary work in addition to main work

HH reporting

No Working Children Working Children

Count Column N % Count Column N %

In addition to main work did Yes 268 6.1% 6816 6.7%

any other work
No 4102 93.9% 94597 93.3%

As it is evident from this table that less than 7 percent of the population work on jobs other than
their main job. This is not significant population, the reason may be as mentioned that they work on
their main work so much they cannot work on any additional job. Secondly job opportunity may be
another problem. It is difficult to find other job with flexible hours while keeping one in hand.

4.7 MAIN REASONS FOR NOT SEEKING WORK

All of the household members don’t work due to various reasons. This may be voluntary
unemployment and they could not find any job of their choice. Whatever the cause may be for their
unemployment, following table summarises causes of not seeking work.

Table 18: Number and percentage of people explaining different reasons for not seeking work

HH reporting
No Working Children Working Children
Count Column N % Count Column N %
Found a job but waiting to start 0 .0% 175 8.2%
Works seasonally 75 33.3% 0 .0%
Tired of looking for work 75 33.3% 209 9.7%
Lacks employers requirement 0 .0% 579 27.0%
Does not know where to search for job 75 33.3% 122 5.7%
Student (studying) 0 .0% 0 .0%
Family/ parents/spouse does not allow 0 .0% 0 .0%
Engaged in household chores 0 .0% 306 14.3%
On retirement, no need to work 0 .0% 0 .0%
Unable to work (illness, disability.) 0 .0% 754 35.1%
Too young for work 0 .0% 0 .0%
Other 0 .0% 0 .0%

This table shows that person of household not reporting working children were not employed due to
three reasons but in other household most of the people either don’t qualify for job or they were
disabled.
35
4.8 AVERAGE MONTHLY INCOME OF THE HOUSEHOLDS

Income of households is strong indicator of their socio-economic status. Household who has high
income is less likely to put their child in work. Following table shows average monthly income of
households.
Table 19: Weighted average household income

Income (Rupees/Month)
Type of households
Mean

No Working Children 13740.59

Working Children 12986.62

All households 13019.76

This table show that average monthly income of household is different for working child household
i.e. less than overall average income of all households. This may be even lower if we exclude income
contribution of working child. Low income may be due to mainly due to two reasons i.e. they work in
agricultural sector where wages are lower compared to other sectors, second, they have less
education and work in lower paid jobs

4.9 MIGRATION STATUS OF HOUSEHOLDS

Migration of household is risky especially for poor households because it needs some resources to
adjust in new environment like new home, new job, new relations etc. If we assume that household
reporting working children are relatively poor, then they are less likely to migrate. Following table
shows percentage of households who migrated.
Table 20: Percentage of households who changed their place

Type of household
Status of household
Non-working Children Working Children

Number Column N % Number Column N %

Migrated 8 18.2% 5 2.0%

Not migrated 36 81.8% 251 98.0%

This table is based on household data. i.e. out of 300 households only 13 migrated. Of these 13
households 5 were those who reported working child and 8 others. In percentage terms, only two
percent of the household who reported working children changed their place of residence compare
to 18.2 percent who did not reported working child.

36
CHAPTER FIVE: INVOLVEMENT OF CHILDREN IN WORK ACTIVITIES.

5.1 WORKING CHILDREN

Boys are more likely to be in labour compared to girls because of two reasons. First, male members
are considered responsible for earning; second, boys have less security concern while working
outside their homes. According to Siddiqi (2009), “Mathematics says that a percent increase in the
number of boys in the household increases the chances for child labour in the household by 102%.
Reading these two findings together reveals that having more kids in the household increases the
chance of child labour in the household by many times.”
Gender distribution of employed children is presented in tables below:

5.1.1 Surveyed Sample

In this survey total 300 households were interviewed. These 300 households had 2152 members.
Out of 300 households, 256 reported working children. These 256 households had 876 children of
age 5-17. While in non-working children households there were only 73 children of this age group.
Table 21: Number and percentage of working children in age and gender groups

Number and percentage of working children

Age Groups
Male Female Total
Number Table N % Number Table N % Number Table N %
5-11 years 39 10.5% 27 7.3% 66 17.7%
12-14 years 80 21.5% 35 9.4% 115 30.9%
15-17 years 130 34.9% 61 16.4% 191 51.3%
Total 249 66.9% 123 33.1% 372 100.0%

According to survey data, data, out of total 949 children, 372 were working children. Of these
working children 123 were females and 249 were male. In age groups 17.7 percent were children of
age between 5-11, about 30 percent of age 12-14 and 51.3 percent of age group 15-17. Weighted
numbers are given in table below.

5.1.2 Weighted Figures

Estimated number of children was 188089. Of these children, 77851 were working children.
Table 22: Weighted number and percentage of working children in age and gender groups

What is the sex of each of these household

Age Groups
Male Female Total

Number Table N % Number Table N % Number Table N %

5-11 years 8882 11.4% 7007 9.0% 15889 20.4%

12-14 years 15627 20.1% 7857 10.1% 23484 30.2%

15-17 years 24109 31.0% 14368 18.5% 38477 49.4%

Total 48618 62.5% 29233 37.5% 77851 100.0%

37
Out of 181973 children 77851 were working that means about 41 percent of total population of age
5-17 were working children.
Out of 20.4 percent children of age 5-11 years, 9 percent are girls and 11.4 percent are boys. In age
group 12-14, this gap increases up to 10 percent and in next age group it becomes up to 12.5
percent. Gap between percentage of boys and girls employed increases with increase in age, due to
same two reasons. As girls grow, they are more likely to face harassment than boys either at work
place or way to their work place. Therefore, parents are less likely to allow older girls to go out for
work. But boys, as they grow old they are more likely to go out of their home. Table below present
an overall picture of professions where children were put.

5.2 STATUS IN EMPLOYMENT OF WORKING CHILDREN

Children usually work on their family shops, business or farms. Therefore it can be expected that
most of the working children will be employees or unpaid family workers.
Table 23: Currently active status of working children in gender groups

Employed children
Activity Status Male Female Total
Number Table N % Number Table N % Number Table N %
Employee 18642 24.2% 11537 15.0% 30179 39.1%
Own account worker 3485 4.5% 1935 2.5% 5420 7.0%
Employer 65 .1% 0 .0% 65 .1%
Member of producers' 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
cooperative
Unpaid family worker 25841 33.5% 15639 20.3% 41480 53.8%
Total 48032 62.3% 29111 37.7% 77143 100.0%
Data in above table confirms that children either work as employees or as unpaid family worker.
Only 7 percent of them work as Own Account Workers. About unpaid family workers it was expected
that girls may be more in unpaid family work but its different picture. Of 53.8 percent unpaid family
workers, 33.5 were boys that means about 62 percent of the unpaid family works were boys.

5.3 EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN BY TYPE OF CONTRACT

Most of the working children were in agriculture sector in rural areas where there is no concept of
written contract especially with children. One obvious reason is there is no tradition of written
contract, second reasons may be, most of the times guardians or adult members commit to send
their children at work so children may not know even if there is any contract between employers
and adult members. Third reason may be that employer are afraid of written contract, and don’t
want to employ children on record to avoid and legal problems.
Keeping in view these reason one may expect that there may hardly be any response about written
contract with children. If we see table below it support this supposition that there is hardly any case
where children have some sort of written agreement with employers.

38
Table 24: Number and percentage of children in formal/informal employment

What is the sex of each of these household

Male Female Total
Number Table N % Number Table N % Number Table N %
Limited duration A written contract 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
A verbal agreement 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
Don't know 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
Unlimited duration A written contract 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
A verbal agreement 10122 35.1% 7999 27.8% 18120 62.9%
Don't know 0 .0% 43 .2% 43 .2%
Don't know A written contract 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
A verbal agreement 454 1.6% 0 .0% 454 1.6%
Don't know 7221 25.1% 2971 10.3% 10192 35.4%
Total A written contract 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
A verbal agreement 10575 36.7% 7999 27.8% 18574 64.5%
Don't know 7221 25.1% 3014 10.5% 10235 35.5%
Table shows that most of the children (63%) either don’t have any written contract or they don’t
know if there is any. In verbal agreement time or duration of job is not specified. If both parties are
satisfied it goes till years.

5.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN’S WORK

People employ children mainly because children do work at low wages. Children who belong mainly
to poor families they accept whatever they are offered. Secondly, children don’t perceive inherent
risks associated with some jobs. Adults may be reluctant to work, but children may take it ignorantly.
Main characteristics of child work are discussed below.

5.3.1 Average Monthly Income

Average monthly household incomes were presented in previous section for both working and non-
working children. These figures are weighted average calculated by using weights.
Table 25: Average household income with and without children contribution

Type of household
Income Non-working Children Working Children Total
Mean Mean Mean
Without children contribution 13740.59 10893.21 11018.36
Children contribution .00 2093.41 2001.40
Overall Average 13740.59 12986.62 13019.76
Average contribution of children is Rs. 2093 per month. This should not be mixed by wages of
children. Wages may be quite different from this figure because there may be more than one
children working in one household. So, this is average earning of all working children in a household.
Difference between working children household and non-working children households is not
significant because of weights assigned to them. Survey figures were different from these.

39
5.3.2 Major Occupations
There is some difference in working boys and girls with respect to their profession. Parents are more
concerned about their daughters so they hardly allow girls to work at a place where they cannot see
them. Therefore girls either work on farm with their parents or at homes along with their mothers.
Some girls work at place where only women work.
Following table shows percentage distribution of boys and girls in different professions.
Table 26: Most frequent occupation of working children

Work Male Female Total

place/industry Profession Count Row N % Count Row N % Count Col%
Agriculture Cotton Picker 5196 29.2% 12598 70.8% 17794 22.86%
Animal Keeper 8560 67.4% 4147 32.6% 12708 16.32%
Farmer 7282 78.7% 1975 21.3% 9257 11.89%
Cultivator 2991 44.1% 3791 55.9% 6782 8.71%
Construction Labour 4396 78.7% 1190 21.3% 5586 7.18%
House Tailor 0 .0% 2779 100.0% 2779 3.57%
Tailor Shop Tailor 1554 85.6% 262 14.4% 1816 2.33%
Flour Mill Worker 1741 100.0% 0 .0% 1741 2.24%
Motor Workshop Mechanic 1332 100.0% 0 .0% 1332 1.71%
Goods Shop Salesman 1043 79.6% 268 20.4% 1311 1.68%
House Sweeper 446 36.6% 773 63.4% 1219 1.57%
Hotel Waiter 1207 100.0% 0 .0% 1207 1.55%
Veg. Market Loading 1163 100.0% 0 .0% 1163 1.49%
Vegetable Shop Salesman 1128 100.0% 0 .0% 1128 1.45%
Construction Mason 853 100.0% 0 .0% 853 1.10%
Kiln Brick Making 533 72.1% 206 27.9% 739 0.95%
Others 9190 88.1% 1245 11.9% 10435 13.40%
Total 48618 62.5% 29233 37.5% 77851 100.00%
Professions having less than one percent of children were pooled in ‘Others’. Most frequent
profession was cotton picking. In cotton picking season, usually there is shortage of labour. Landless
labour families work in field for the season. This work does not need any skill or does not include
lifting heavy loads so people think it most suitable job for children. Secondly, whole of the family
work in close proximity, so children are in their sight. Due to engagement of boys in other
professions, percentage of boys in cotton picking is lower than girls.
In livestock rearing, there are two options, rearing at home, grazing in fields. At home jobs are done
by girls while in field, boys. Similarly, in farming and cultivation, boys and girls are engaged in
weeding, vegetable plucking, harvesting fodder for cattle.
From table it is evident that construction, hotel, motor workshops, mills and markets are workplaces
for boys, tailoring and home cleaning are main tasks of girls. This also supports the hypothesis that
parents don’t allow girls to go far away from their sight to work due to their vulnerability.

5.3.3 Average Starting Work Age

Average age of working boys and girls in different age groups is given in following table.
Table 27: Average age of working children at start of work

Age Groups Working Children

40
 Male Female
5-11 years 9 9
12-14 years 11 11
15-17 years 13 12
Overall 12 11
This table shows that average age for boys is a bit more than girls. As discussed in previous section,
girls usually work with their parents especially mother either in field or home while boys tend to
work at workshops and construction sites. Therefore work age for boys is bit more than that of girls.

5.4 Work Intensity

In previous section it was noted that most of the children work without any written contract. That
means they don’t have specific terms and conditions. This is true for their working hours as well
because sometimes children work more than 42 hours a week. Following table presents average
working hours for each age group.
Table 28: Average number of working hours
Hours of work during last week
Age Groups Male Female
5-11 years 34 28
12-14 years 34 27
15-17 years 46 32
Total 40 30

In age group 5-11, boys and girls work for 34 and 28 hours that is too much for this age group. For
age group 12-14 children are not suppose to work more than 14 hours but here they work more
than double than. Similarly, boys in age group 15-17 worked even more than 42 hours.

41
CHAPTER SIX: EDUCATION STATUS OF WORKING CHILDREN
Children who work at their family enterprise/shop/farm they have option to go to school as they
have flexible job work. Working and studying together is difficult for children because of fatigue of
work, they may not pay full attention to their studies. Secondly, adults of working children are less
educated and they cannot help their kids in their education. Due to these reason children may feel
problems in their studies and are vulnerable to drop-out from school.

6.1 SCHOOL ATTENDANCE RATIOS

Data for this section were mainly taken from the Part III of the questionnaire. In this section, working
children were asked questions directly about their education and work conditions.
Table 29: Number and percentage of working children attending school

Number of working children

Attendance Male Female Total
Number Table N % Number Table N % Number Table N %
Attending School 12173 15.6% 5063 6.5% 17236 22.1%
Not Attending 36445 46.8% 24170 31.0% 60614 77.9%
Total 48618 62.5% 29233 37.5% 77851 100.0%
Among all working children, only 22 percent of them attend school. Of these 22 percent, 15.6
percent are boys and other 6.5 percent are girls.

6.2 Primary / Secondary School Attendance Ratios

Of total children 17236 children went to school of which 12173 were boys and 5063 were girls. Level
of school attended by these children is given below in table.
Table 30: Number and percentage of boys and girls attending different levels of schools

Gender Groups
Level of School Total
Male Female
Number Column N % Number Column N % Number Column N %
Pre-school 77 .6% 77 1.5% 153 .9%
Primary 6708 55.1% 3455 69.1% 10163 59.2%
Secondary 3831 31.5% 840 16.8% 4672 27.2%
High school 1558 12.8% 627 12.5% 2185 12.7%
Non standard curriculum 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
Total 12174 100.0% 4999 100.0% 17173 100.0%

Of total 12174 school going working boys, about 55 percent were in primary school and 31 in
secondary school. In girls this scene was different; most of the girls were in primary school.

42
6.2 AGE AT FIRST PRIMARY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

Most of the public schools prefer a five year old kid for admission but there may be some deviation
from it. Some parents send their children to school at 6 thinking that children should enough grown
up to learn something. Others send at 4 to familiarize them to school.
Table 31: Average age at first primary school attendance

Age at primary school

Gender
Mean
Male 4.98
Female 5.26
Total 5.06

This table show that average age at fist admission is about 5 years that is usually trend in most of the
areas in Pakistan.

6.3 EDUCATION ATTAINMENT LEVELS

This table shows data about number and percentage of working children who could not complete
their education and dropped out due to some reasons.
Table 32: Highest level of education of dropped out working child

What is the sex of each of these household

Highest Grade Male Female Total
Number Column N % Number Column N % Number Column N %
Pre-school 755 4.2% 0 .0% 755 2.9%
Primary 12208 68.2% 5933 70.1% 18141 68.8%
Secondary 3785 21.1% 2525 29.9% 6310 23.9%
High school 1164 6.5% 0 .0% 1164 4.4%
Non standard curriculum 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
Total 17911 100.0% 8458 100.0% 26370 100.0%

Most of the working children dropped out from school in Primary school. Another important point to
be noted is that no girl is dropped out in high school. That means no girl reaches up to high school.
But there are some boys who still reach up to high school level and then drop out.

6.4 REASONS FOR LEAVING SCHOOL

There may be multiple reasons for the dropped out but here we enlisted most important one.
Table 33: Distribution of household members by Reason(s) for leaving school and sex

Reasons Number of children

43
 Male Female Total
Number Column N % Number Column N % Number Column N %

Completed his/her 85 .5% 0 .0% 85 .3%

compulsory schooling
Too old for school 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
Disabled/illness 216 1.2% 311 3.8% 527 2.0%
No schooling too far 0 .0% 854 10.4% 854 3.3%
Cannot afford schooling 4692 26.3% 2375 29.0% 7067 27.1%
Family did not allow 1683 9.4% 1435 17.5% 3117 12.0%
schooling
Poor in studies/not 8523 47.8% 1879 23.0% 10402 40.0%
interested in school
Education not considered 643 3.6% 896 10.9% 1539 5.9%
valuable
School not safe 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
To learn a job 134 .8% 0 .0% 134 .5%
To work for pay as employee 622 3.5% 0 .0% 622 2.4%
Help at home with 306 1.7% 0 .0% 306 1.2%
household tasks
Others 944 5.3% 438 5.3% 1382 5.3%
Main reason for leaving school is poor in studies and not interested in school. As discussed in
previous sections, literacy of adults in working children households is lower than others; adults
cannot help them in their studies or study related problems. Secondly fatigue and work load don’t
allow them to concentrate on studies.
Second most important reason is affordability i.e. about 27 percent could not afford schooling.
Affordability has two components, i.e. cost of school and opportunity cost of working. Parents think
that while children are in school they could have earned some money instead of spending some
money.
‘Family didn’t allow schooling’ is another important reason especially for girls, because, more girls
are affected by this reason than boys.

6.5 REASONS FOR NEVER ATTENDING SCHOOL

There are some children who never attended school. Following table shows main reasons for not
attending school.
Table 34: Distribution of reason(s) for never attending school by sex of working children

Reason for never attending school Number of children never attended school
Male Female Total
Column N Column N Column N
Number % Number % Number %

44
Too young 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
Disabled/illness 728 4.6% 690 4.9% 1417 4.7%
No school/school too far 0 .0% 175 1.2% 175 .6%
Cannot afford schooling 4668 29.8% 6134 43.2% 10802 36.2%
Family did not allow schooling 1638 10.5% 1956 13.8% 3594 12.0%
Not interested in school 7124 45.5% 4068 28.6% 11192 37.5%
Education not considered valuable 269 1.7% 584 4.1% 853 2.9%
School not safe 0 .0% 447 3.1% 447 1.5%
To learn a job 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
To work for pay 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
To work as unpaid worker in family 1237 7.9% 77 .5% 1313 4.4%
business/farm
Help at home with household tasks 0 .0% 85 .6% 85 .3%
Other 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
Total 15664 100% 14216 100% 29878 100%

This table present almost same picture as presented in previous table. Children reported almost
same reasons with same frequency. Like, main reason for not going to school is not interest in
school. And second is still affordability.

6.6 REASONS FOR MISSING SCHOOL DAYS

Main reasons reported by working children were three: absences of teacher from school, work and
illness. In rural areas where there is weak institutional control, teachers pay less attention to school
work.
Table 35: Working children reporting main reason for missing school day

Number of children
Male Female Total
Number Column N % Number Column N % Number Column N %
School vacation period 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
Teacher was absent 0 .0% 612 31.4% 612 15.6%
Bad weather conditions 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
To help family business 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
To help at home with 0 .0% 85 4.4% 85 2.2%
household tasks
Working outside family 525 26.7% 610 31.3% 1135 29.0%
business
Illness/Injury/disablement 1442 73.3% 644 33.0% 2086 53.2%
Other 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
Total 1967 100% 1951 100% 3918 100%

45
Second reason is obvious, because they were working children and skip school due to their work. For
girls there is another task i.e. caring household tasks. Here about 4.4 percent girls responded that
they have to stay at home for household work. But most frequent reason seems to be health related
problems. Children skip school due to health related problems. This may be due to because they are
weak in overall health or work causes them some health problems.

6.7 LITERACY RATIOS

This ratio was calculated from Part III of the questionnaires that was directly asked from children.
These children were asked whether they can read or write simple sentences, their response is
tabulated below with respect to their gender.
Table 36: Number and percentage of literate boys and girls

Gender Groups
Literacy
Status Boys Girls Total
Number Column N % Number Column N % Number Column N %
Literate 22722 48.6% 11902 41.4% 34624 45.8%
Illiterate 24067 51.4% 16839 58.6% 40907 54.2%

This table shows literacy ratio of boys and girls. Literacy of boys is more than literacy in girls. There
are multiple reasons for this:

46
CHAPTER SEVEN: MAGNITUDE OF CHILD LABOUR.

7.1 CHILD LABOUR

For the Child Labour Survey ‘child labour’ was defined as all persons aged 5-17 years who, during a
specified time period fall in any one of following categories:
 A child under 12 who is economically active for 1 or more hours per week,
 A child 12-14 who is economically active for at least 14 hours per week,
 A child 15-17 who is economically active for at least 43 hours per week
 A child 5-17 who participates in activities that are "hazardous by nature or circumstance" for
1 or more hours per week
 A child 5-17 who participates in an "unconditional worst form of child labour" such as
trafficked children, children in bondage or forced labour, armed conflict, prostitution,
pornography, illicit activities.
Magnitude of child labour is discussed in following section

7.1.1 Sample Survey

In sample survey numbers of child labourers calculated were 355 (out of 372 working children). That
means conditions of work for working children are such that most of the working children fall under
this category.
Table 37: Distribution of child labour by gender groups and age categories

Number of Child Labourers

Age Groups Male Female Total
5-11 years 39 27 66
12-14 years 79 34 113
15-17 years 125 51 176
Total 243 112 355
Boys are more than girls because they are considered responsible for supporting family and they can
work outside home in any situation.

7.1.2 Weighted Figures

Total children in employment were 77851 of which 75021 (96.6 percent) were categorized as child
labourers. Of these child labourers 93 percent were in rural areas according to survey results.
Distribution of child labour in rural and urban area among age groups is given in following Table.
Table 38: Distribution of child labour in age groups and rural/urban locality

Child Labour
Urban Rural Total
Count Table N % Count Table N % Count Table N %
Age Groups 5-11 years 1155 1.5% 14734 19.6% 15889 21.2%
12-14 years 1427 1.9% 21806 29.1% 23233 31.0%
15-17 years 2659 3.5% 33239 44.3% 35898 47.9%
Total 5241 7.0% 69780 93.0% 75021 100.0%

47
Table 39 shows that 93 percent child labour is in rural area of which about 60 percent children are
involved in agriculture, either in crop sector or livestock sector. Farming, livestock and cotton picking
were major profession in Sahiwal. Similar findings are given at ILO website stating, “Seventy per cent
of working children are in agriculture - over 132 million girls and boys aged 5-14 years old. The vast
majority of the world’s child labourers are not toiling in factories and sweatshops or working as
domestics or street vendors in urban areas, they are working on farms and plantations, often from
sun up to sun down, planting and harvesting crops, spraying pesticides, and tending livestock on
rural farms and plantations4”. As mentioned above due to vulnerability, girls are less in child labour
compared to boys in formal sector. Percentage of boys and girls in child labour is given in next table.
Table 39: Distribution of Child labourers in Gender and age groups
Child Labour
Male Female Total
Count Table N % Count Table N % Count Table N %
Age Groups 5-11 years 8882 11.8% 7007 9.3% 15889 21.2%
12-14 years 15551 20.7% 7682 10.2% 23233 31.0%
15-17 years 23254 31.0% 12644 16.9% 35898 47.9%
Total 47688 63.6% 27333 36.4% 75021 100.0%
Table above show a higher percentage of boys in child labour compared to girls. Trend is same as in
working children that as age increases percentage difference between genders increases. In working
children it was 12.5 percent in age group 15-17, here it is even more showing that girls are not
allowed to enter all types of jobs and industries. People allow their girls to work where they feel that
girls are safe in their absence or they are in their sight.

7.2 WORKING HOURS OF CHILDREN IN CHILD LABOUR

There was hardly any child working under some written contract with predefined working hours or
other terms and conditions. So we can expect number of hours that may not suit them. Following
table shows average number of hour for child labour.
Table 40: Average number of working hours (per week) for working children and child labour

Child Labour
Age Groups Not in Child Labour Child Labour
Mean Mean
5-11 years 31
12-14 years 8 33
15-17 years 20 43
Children in work were categories in two groups first, working children and child labour as defined in
ILO definition. In this table ‘Not in child labour’ shows children who were in light work or the work
not considered in child labour. Average hours have huge difference as it can be seen in table.

4
http://www.ilo.org/ipec/areas/Agriculture/lang--en/index.htm

48
7.3 CHILDREN IN DEBT BONDAGE

Households were asked about loans and their repayment and especially asked whether they
provided direct labour to the creditor by child household member. According to responses no one
reported debt bondage.

7.4 CHILDREN INVOLVED IN HAZARDOUS WORK OR CONDITIONS

In hazardous occupations, children work for long hours in agriculture, work at very young age, work
in construction etc. Mining sector is not present in Sahiwal so there is no case for mining sector.
Number of children in hazardous form and other types of work is presented in table below.

Table 41: Number and percentage of children in hazardous and other forms of work

5-11 years 12-14 years 15-17 Total

Count Table % Count Table % Count Table % Count Table %
Hazardous work 15417 8.20% 22845 12.10% 35898 19.10% 74160 39.40%
Non-hazardous Child Labour 473 0.30% 388 0.20% 0 0.00% 861 0.50%
Permissible light work 0 0 251 0.10% 2579 0.014 2830 1.50%
Working Children 15890 8.50% 23484 12.40% 38477 20.50% 77851 41.40%
Not in employment 69628 37.00% 24815 13.20% 15795 8.40% 110238 58.60%
Total 85518 45.50% 48299 25.70% 54272 28.90% 188089 100.00%
Out of 188.09 thousand children of surveyed population, 39.4 percent are in hazardous work. If we
take total employed children 77851 about 95 percent were in hazardous work. This is an indicator
that working children are in conditions that can affect their overall personality very badly.
It is rightly mentioned in “The State of the World Children, 1997” that child labour hinders access to
education, undermines children’s dignity and self-esteem, psychological development, physical
development, cognitive development, motional development, social and moral development,
including a sense of group identity, the ability to cooperate with others and the capacity to
distinguish right from wrong. Moreover, children mistreated in the workplace may be so traumatized
that they cannot concentrate on school work or are rejected by teachers as disruptive (UNICEF,
1997).

7.6 DETERMINANTS OF CHILD LABOUR

Literature describes many reasons for child labour both from supply side and demand side. But
among all reasons, poverty is the most important factor that compels a family to put their child in
work force. Small hands have to do big tasks of supporting their family or paying off debt or just
saving income by not going to school. In this survey, children were asked about why they work.
Responses are presented in following table.
Table 42: Reasons explained by working children for being in work

What is the sex of each of these household

Male Female Total
Number Column N % Number Column N % Number Column N %
Supplement family income 21054 58.0% 16022 73.9% 37076 64.0%

49
help pay family debt 2066 5.7% 122 .6% 2188 3.8%
help in household enterprise 7157 19.7% 3587 16.5% 10745 18.5%
Learn skills 803 2.2% 65 .3% 867 1.5%
Schooling not useful for future 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
School to far/no school 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
Cannot afford school fees 1900 5.2% 762 3.5% 2662 4.6%
Not interested in school 3299 9.1% 1130 5.2% 4429 7.6%
To temporarily replace someone 0 .0% 0 .0% 0 .0%
Total 36279 100.0% 21688 100.0% 57967 100.0%

This shows expected results; poverty emerged as main factor for child labour in which children have
to go to work to supplement their family income. We will analyse these factor in detail in next
section as well. But it is unexpected to see higher percentage of girls responding to reason 1. Boys
are more likely to help in household business or farm compared to girls. Similarly more boys were
put to work to payoff family debt. As future earning hands, parents send their sons to learn skill
instead of formal education. This is supported by percentage of reason 4 where 2.2 percent boys
opted this reason. Interestingly no child thought that school is not useful for future, showing overall
consensus in the favour of education. Reason 6 asked for distance from school, no body complained
about that; this is unexpected because 13 percent of primary schools are in the range of 1-10
kilometres with an average distance of 4 km. About reason 7, it is usually thought that when
subsistence of a household is at stake, girls’ education is sacrificed. But surprisingly, there is no
difference here as response from both sides is 5.1 percent. This is also a sign of poverty, as in reason
1, that people have to choose from education of children and their other necessities of life. In reason
9, girls are more interested in education than boys but they have to go for work to support their
families as in reason 1.

7.7 PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN’S INCOME TO HOUSEHOLD INCOME

Average contribution of children in household income is small but on individual level this may be
quite significant.
Table 43: Average monthly income of household with/out child labour

HH reporting Children
Type of income Not in Child Labour In Child Labour
Mean Mean
Income without Child contribution 13681.63 10803.46
Children contribution in income 603.79 2087.23
Average Income 14285.42 12890.69
Average income without child contribution in child labour household is quite low i.e. 10803 but with
contribution of child labour still it’s lower than non-child labour households. Contribution of children
in non children household is from light work that is not included in child labour. Average household
size of child labour household is more than non-child labour household that further shrinks per
capita income in child labour household.

50
CHAPTER EIGHT: IMPACT OF CHILDREN’S WORK ON HEALTH, SAFETY AND
EDUCATION.

8.1 IMPACT OF CHILDREN’S WORK ON HEALTH

This table contains two types of data, responses and cases. Responses mean one child may have
more responses about problems, so responses will be more than cases. While case represent just
one respondent that how many respondents complained about this problem. To make it short and
simple, total cases and responses are given in last row, and percentage distribution is shown in cells
with respect to column.
Table 44: Children (5-17) and their responses about problems they face due to work
Boys Girls
Sr. Problems at due to work
Responses Cases Responses Cases
1 Superficial injuries or open wounds 19.1% 28.5% 11.8% 15.9%
2 Fractures .8% 1.2% .0% .0%
3 Dislocations, sprains or stains .4% .6% .0% .0%
4 Burns, corrosions, scalds or frostbite 9.0% 13.3% 9.7% 13.0%
5 Breathing problem 2.8% 4.2% 2.6% 3.5%
6 Eye problems 13.2% 19.6% 3.1% 4.2%
7 Skin problems 4.0% 6.0% 5.1% 6.9%
8 Stomach problems/diarrheal 2.1% 3.2% .7% 1.0%
9 Fever 23.2% 34.6% 31.4% 42.2%
10 Extreme fatigue 21.6% 32.2% 33.2% 44.6%
11 Other problems 3.8% 5.6% 2.2% 3.0%
Total 27795 18669 18070 13444
Table shows that most frequent problems in both boys and girls are injuries, eye problem, fever and
fatigue. These conditions may affect not only their education if they are enrolled but also their
physical growth and fitness. There is no significant difference between boys’ and girls’ response
about problems means both experience same things while working outside home. Some peculiarities
in boys’ responses are fracture and sprains. This may be due to their work that involve heavy loads,
do some construction work or in auto-workshops. Fever and fatigue is more in girls that may be due
their less tolerance of continues work or exposure to hazards.
These problems don’t mention that weather children get some serious injuries that can halt their
work or education or both?

8.1.1 Serious Illness due to work

For this children were asked another question about any serious injuries that affected their ability to
work, study or created some permanent problem. Reponses to this question is given in next table.
Table 45: Response of children about serious illness due to work

Number of Children
Serious illness Male Female
Number Column N % Number Column N %
Not serious did not stop work/schooling 15433 77.4% 12296 82.6%
Stopped work or school for a short time 4054 20.3% 2541 17.1%

51
Stopped work or school completely 446 2.2% 43 .3%
Total 19934 100.0% 14880 100.0%
This seems very alarming situation where 446 boys and 43 girls got injured so severely that they had
to stop the work. Workshop, mills, factories and all work places where ever children work, owners
don’t have any insurance or compensation that may help their families. Other injures or illness also
very high that is 20.3 percent boys and 17 percent girls are complaining.

8.1.2 Children carrying heavy loads

How many children carry heavy loads and operate machinery, is presented in table below.

Table 46: Distribution of working children carrying loads and operating machines by gender

What is the sex of each of these household

Activity Male Female Total

Number Column N % Number Column N % Number Column N %

Carry heavy loads at work 15624 35.2% 6277 23.5% 21901 30.8%
Operate/heavy equipment 3185 7.3% 1443 5.5% 4628 6.6%
About heavy loads, boys are more in both percentage and absolute numbers compared to girls. This
is because most of the children work in agricultural fields where they have to carry harvested crops
or picked cotton or some tools that may be too heavy for them. Children working in urban area may
be expose to machines that why they are less in number compare to heavy load.

8.1.3 Exposure to risk

Children were asked about their work environment and any risk present there. Responses and cases
of children were presented in following table. Responses and cases are same as in Table 32.
Table 47: Responses and number of children exposed to different risks
Responses* Cases**
Are you expose to
Male Female Male Female
dust, fumes 44.0% 49.1% 69.6% 68.2%
Fire, gas, flame 3.7% 3.6% 5.9% 5.0%
Loud noise or vibration 6.5% 0.0% 10.2% 0.0%
Extreme cold or heart 28.0% 44.4% 44.2% 61.7%
Dangerous tools 2.9% 2.5% 4.6% 3.5%
Work underground 1.0% 0.0% 1.5% 0.0%
Work at heights 4.3% 0.0% 6.8% 0.0%
Work in water/lake/pond/river 3.2% 0.0% 5.0% 0.0%
Workplace too dark or confined 0.1% 0.0% 0.2% 0.0%
Insufficient ventilation 1.9% 0.0% 3.0% 0.0%
Chemical 4.2% 0.0% 6.7% 0.0%
Work Explosives 0.2% 0.0% 0.2% 0.0%
Work other things, processes or conditions bad for your health 0.0% 0.4% 0.0% 0.5%

52
 Total 42797 21952 27098 15812

*Responses mean, one child may have more responses about problems, so responses will be more
than cases. **While case represent just one respondent that how many respondents complained
about this problem
Out of 27098 boys, 69.6 percent said that they are exposed to dust and fumes; this percentage for
girls is 68.2. Other most frequent hazard is heat of cold that was reported by 44.2 percent children
and 61.7 percent girls. Other risks are faced by boys only because they work in risky areas.

8.2 IMPACT OF CHILDREN’S WORK ON EDUCATION

How these households treat their children when they need to go to school. This will be discussed in
next section on this chapter. But here we will explore reasons for not going to school. Parents were
asked about children who are not going to school. They explained different reasons that were listed
in table below.
Table 48: Households reporting reasons for not going to school (responses about 5-17)
Number of Households having
Reasons for not attending school No Child Labour Child Labour
Number Column N % Number Column N %
Too young 597 77.3% 2065 4.5%
Disabled/illness 0 .0% 2116 4.6%
No School/ school too far 175 22.7% 974 2.1%
Cannot afford schooling 0 .0% 19325 41.7%
Family did not allow schooling 0 .0% 5438 11.7%
Not interested in school 0 .0% 11687 25.2%
Education not considered valuable 0 .0% 1326 2.9%
School not safe 0 .0% 670 1.4%
To learn a job 0 .0% 525 1.1%
To work for pay 0 .0% 669 1.4%
To work as unpaid worker in family business/farm 0 .0% 412 .9%
Help at home with household chores 0 .0% 288 .6%
Other 0 .0% 893 1.9%
Total 772 100% 46388 100%
Households reporting child labour have a lot of reason for not sending their children school. But
most prominent is still affordability. Other most frequent reason is ‘not interested in school’. This is
the impact of illiteracy of adults of household that children don’t feel interest in education. Third
most reported reason is ‘parents don’t allow’. This reason is also a manifestation of previous two
reasons:
1. Adults cannot spend on education, so they don’t allow them instead of saying that they
cannot afford
2. They themselves are illiterate, so they may feel what education can give to their children
besides employment.
3. Most of the family members are engaged in work, they cannot take additional responsibility
to pick and drop their children

53
8.2.1 Who is going to school?
As discussed in previous parts that households reporting child labour are poor and have less literacy,
impact of their poverty is visible on children. Table below shows number of children (5-17) who are
not/ attending school.

Table 49: Number and percentage of children age 5-17 attending school
Number of children in households
Gender Are you attending school? without Child Labour With Child Labour
Number Column N % Number Column N %
Male Yes 5979 90.4% 46351 52.6%
No 638 9.6% 41809 47.4%
Total 6617 100.0% 88160 100.0%
Female Yes 4175 68.8% 40183 47.8%
No 1893 31.2% 43938 52.2%
Total 6068 100.0% 84121 100.0%
This is three way table with gender, household and school attendance. In boys section, only 52.6
percent children go to school from child labour households compared to 90.4 percent household
without child labour. This difference also persists in girls. But one thing is interesting to see that
difference between boys and girls is wider in non-child labour households. The notion that girls
suffer more in term of education due to poverty seem incorrect here. In this situation, it seems well
off people avoid sending their girls to school due to some other reasons. In household reporting
child labour, do all children work? This is not necessary, because elder brother or sisters may work to
support younger ones of even they themselves can go to school besides their work. To check this
whether they go to school or not, following table presents some figures.

Table 50: Number and percentage of child labourers attending school

Is attending school Employment Status of 5-17 years

Gender or pre-school
during year Not working Child Labour Working child
Number Column N % Number Column N % Number Column N %
Male Yes 40033 83.4% 11832 25.8% 464 49.9%
No 7941 16.6% 34040 74.2% 466 50.1%
Female Yes 39114 63.6% 4441 16.5% 802 46.5%
No 22414 36.4% 22495 83.5% 922 53.5%
Above table show that children who don’t work, 83.4 percent boys and 63.6 percent girls go to
school. Children who were put in child labour, only 26 percent boys and 16.5 percent girls of them
go to school, while among children in other works, 50 percent boys and 46.5 percent girls go to
school.

This table conveys two messages:

 As work gets harder, school attendance drops, both in boys and girls

54
  Percentage of girls in all categories is always lower than boys
Impact of work on school enrolment is explained in above discussion, but what is impact of work on
school attendance for those who have been enrolled. Following table presents some numbers about
not attending school.
Table 51: Response of children (5-17) about missing school days

Engaged in

No work Child Labour Working child

Number Column N % Number Column N % Number Column N %

Missed any school day 14588 19.8% 4048 25.8% 75 5.9%

Didn’t miss school days 58999 80.2% 11670 74.2% 1191 94.1%

This table shows that children who are not working are less likely to miss their school. About 26
percent of the children in child labour miss their school. This percentage is surprisingly low for
working children other than child labour i.e. 5.9 percent. Children miss their school due to many
reasons include that pertain to their work. Next table is about reasons for missing school if s/he is
enrolled in school.

8.2.2 Reasons for missing school days

Children were asked about the reasons for not attending school during last week. Their responses
were enlisted below in table.

Table 52: Percentage of boys and girls explaining reasons for missing school
Boys Girls
Reason for missing school No Child labour Child Labour No Child labour Child Labour
School vacation period .0% .0% .0% .0%
Teacher was absent 21.6% .0% 11.1% 31.4%
Bad weather conditions .0% .0% .0% .0%
To help family business 4.2% .0% .0% .0%
To help at home with household tasks .0% .0% 14.7% 4.4%
Working outside family business .0% 27.7% .0% 31.3%
Illness/Injury/disablement 56.4% 72.3% 59.1% 33.0%
Other 17.8% .0% 15.1% .0%
Most persistent reason is illness that affected children in all categories. Boys in child labour seem to
be affected the most. Other reasons that are not work related are 2nd, 3rd, and last. Boys who are not
in child labour helped in family business, this is because they are not working exclusively on some
job. So they work on family business occasionally. Girls both in child labour or otherwise, work at
home, for non-child labour its 14.7 percent and for child labour 4.4 percent. This is because she
already had a commitment with work outside family business. That why there are 31.3 percent girls
who miss their school due to their job outside family business. Same percentage for boys is 27.7
percent.
55
It means there is some impact of work; wither within home or outside home that hinder their
regular attendance at school.

8.3 PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE.

Child abuse not only affects them psychologically but also emotionally. They lose their self-
esteem and confidence and fear to face any strangers and even their friends. In some
extreme cases, they are left in trauma that keeps them haunting for rest of life. This type of
shocks sometime is worse than physical shocks. Friends and family member console them in
case of physical shocks but children usually hide where they face emotionally or
psychologically.
In survey children were asked about the type of abuse. Their responses are given in table below.
Table 53: Percentage of Working children reporting abuse
Cases as percentage of working children
Abusive Situation
Male Female Total
Have you ever constantly shouted at 7.5% 0.9% 8.4%
Have you ever been repeated insulted 4.8% 0.5% 5.3%
Have you ever been beaten/physically hurt 2.0% 0.1% 2.0%
Have you ever been sexually abused 0.6% 0.0% 0.6%
Other 0.0% 0.6% 0.6%
Total (percentage of working children) 8.2% 1.5% 9.7%
Total Cases (Numbers) 6397 1187 7583

Most frequent abuse is shouting, 8.4 percent of the working children reported this. This seems quite
a usual thing when we see frequency of this. In all shocks boys seem to suffer more than girls. Even
in sexual abuse, there are 0.6 percent cases (about 430). Reason for this is same as in other shocks
that boys work away from their homes out of the sigh of their parents and more vulnerable to any
abuse than girls. Parents don’t allow girls to work at place that is not safe for them.

56
CHAPTER NINE: POLICY IMPLICATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND
CONCLUSIONS.
Child labour is a phenomenon that has both social and economic aspects. Main reason is however
economic i.e. if a household has enough to live, they would like to send their child to school instead
of farm of workshop. Therefore most vulnerable children are those who have low income, but, what
is definition of low income in this aspect? It is discussed below.

9.1 CHILDREN AT RISK OF INVOLVEMENT IN CHILD LABOUR

Households that have per capita income (without working children contribution) between 4 to 6
thousands per month are vulnerable and at risk of involvement on child labour. In rural areas,
household having 5 thousand incomes has a 66 percent probability of having child labour while in
urban areas this probability is at about 4000.
Table 54: Probability of household having child labour at different income levels

Probability
Per capita income
Rural Urban
4000 0.816 0.632
5000 0.661 0.431
6000 0.463 0.250

This vulnerability in rural areas is up to Rs.6000 because they have about 46% probability of going to
child labour. With this income range there are about 23035 children are at risk in Sahiwal District.
Number of households with 4-6 thousand is following.
Table 55: Number and percentage of households in child labour at different level of income

Number of households
Income brackets Not in Child Labour Child Labour
Count Column N % Count Column N %
<= 2.00 21 39.6% 202 81.8%
2.01 - 4.00 14 26.4% 39 15.8%
4.01 - 6.00 7 13.2% 5 2.0%
6.01 - 8.00 9 17.0% 1 .4%
8.01 - 10.00 0 .0% 0 .0%
10.01 and above 2 3.8% 0 .0%
Total 53 100.0% 247 100.0%

This table shows that 13.2 percent of households have income between 4-6 thousands. These
households are vulnerable and their children can enter in child labour with even slight shock.

9.2 CHILDREN ALREADY HARMED BY EXPOSURE TO CHILD LABOUR

5
Households having per capita income between 4-5 thousand have probability between 66 to 81.6 percent

57
Currently there are 77851 working children of which 96 percent were exposed to child labour and 95
percent to hazardous work. Detail of children in different types of work conditions is given below.
Table 56: Number and percentage of children in different employment conditions
What is the sex of each of these
household As percentage As percentage of
Categories
Male Female Total of total children working children
Count Count Count
Working Children 48618 29233 77851 41% 100%
Child Labour 47688 27333 75021 40% 96%
Hazardous work 47395 26765 74160 39% 95%
Non-hazardous child labour 293 568 861 0.5% 1%

Permissible light work 75 175 251 0.1% 0.3%

Other non child labour emp. 855 1724 2579 1% 3%

Not in employment 48634 61604 110238 59%

Total 97252 90837 188089 100%

Of total number of children, 39 percent were in hazardous child labour and 40 percent were in child
labour.

9.3 CHILDREN IN THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOUR REQUIRING IMMEDIATE ACTION

In worst form of child labour there were no cases of slavery or use of children in pornography or any
other illicit activity but there were some other abuses listed in this table. These children need urgent
attention because there working conditions are so bad
Table 57: Number of children expose to abusive behaviour at work

Have you ever Have you ever Have you ever Have you ever
constantly been repeated been beaten been sexuality
Type of work
shouted at insulted /physically hurt abused Other
Count Count Count Count Count
Animal Keeper 697 697 0 0 0
Barber 0 65 0 0 0
Carpenter 240 0 0 0 0
Clerk 0 77 0 0 0
Cotton Picker 859 0 306 0 85
Cultivator 0 360 0 0 360
Driver 82 82 0 0 0
Farmer 0 374 0 0 0
Housemaid 0 43 43 0 0
Labour 893 533 0 0 0
58
Loading 82 0 0 0 0
Mason 500 225 365 0 0
Mechanic 273 273 273 65 0
Packing Spices 365 244 244 365 0
Salesman 407 407 0 0 0
Tailor 557 0 0 0 0
Waiter 332 332 332 0 0
Welder 332 332 0 0 0
Worker 306 77 0 0 0
Total 6502 4470 1563 430 785
This table shows that almost all of the employers shout at, insult or beat physically. But worst of all
at those who sexually abuse them. This is important to note that children at mechanical workshops
and places where there is some packing work; they are exposed to sexual abuse.

9.4 POLICY IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Keeping view the situation of child labour following policy implications may be suggested:
1. District manager should take some preventive measures like:
a. Ensuring that children are enrolled in schools as per legislation of Government of
Punjab. Punjab Compulsory Education Act says that all children should be enrolled
until there is some legitimate reason. There should be some implementation
mechanism for it.
b. All business establishments should be advised not to employ under age children. Not
only employers but parents should be made answerable.
c. Most of the children are employed in agricultural sector. There is not legislation
about control on child labour in agriculture. This sector should be brought under
observation for abusive child labour. But this is not possible until there is some legal
cover. So there should be some development in legislation about employment of
children in agriculture sector.
d. Child labour has strong nexus with poverty. One of the main causes of poverty is
unemployment and under payment of labour. District should ensure that all labour
is being paid minimum wages prescribed by government.
e. Children exposed to any abuse usually cannot tell anyone about any misconduct,
there should be a free phone line to report cases about child abuse. If employers or
co-workers know that their complaints can reach somewhere, they would at least
think twice before they do anything wrong.
f. Increase in investment in education would have a positive impact. Schools in rural
areas are too far to reach. Parents don’t send their children (especially girls) due to
security concern. Consequently there enter in labour market.
2. There are some control measure that district government should take like:
a. Implementation of laws about child labour.
b. Implementation of safety measure at work places; this will not only save a lot of
children working informally but also legal workers as well.

59
9.6 CONCLUSIONS

Situation of child labour is not pleasant in District Sahiwal where 40 percent of the children age 5 to
17 are in child labour. This shows an overall institutional failure of departments mean to prevent and
control and child labour. On supply side government is not providing enough schooling facilities to
engage children in education and on demand side poor economy compelling households to put their
children in child labour. An amalgam of illiteracy and poverty is leading children towards child labour
and weak institutions are providing favourable environment for employment of children.

60
Literature Reviewed
De Fina, Deborah (1992), “Child labour in Pakistan: prevention and problems” Written for seminar in
Human Rights and Economic Development, (http://www.forcedmigration.org/) Last viewed October
13, 2011
Government of Pakistan (1969), “West Pakistan Shops and Establishments Ordinance, 1969”,
Gazette of West Pakistan, Extraordinary, 3rd July 1969
Government of Pakistan (1969) “Ordinance VIII of 1969 West Pakistan Shops and Establishments
Ordinance, 1969”
Government of Pakistan (1973), “Mines Act 1923”, as amended up to Act No. 65, 1973
Government of Pakistan (1977), “Factories Act 1934” ordinance 9 of 1977
Government of Pakistan (1996), “Summary results of Child Labour Survey in Pakistan (1996)” A joint
report of Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), Statistics Division Ministry of Labour, Manpower and
Overseas Pakistanis International Labour Organization (ILO) and International Programme on the
Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC)
Government of Pakistan (1998), “District Census Report of Sahiwal”, Population Census
Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad, Pakistan
Government of Pakistan (2008), “District Census Report – Sahiwal 2008” Population Census
Organization, 69-E, Adeel Plaza, Blue Area, Islamabad, Pakistan
Government of Pakistan, (2010), “Pakistan Economic Survey (2009-10)”, Ministry of Finance,
Government of Pakistan, Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad
Government of Pakistan (2010), “The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan”
Government of Pakistan (2010), “Labour Force Survey (2009 – 2010)” Statistics Division, Federal
Bureau of Statistics, Government of Pakistan (December, 2010)
Government of Punjab (1994), “The Punjab Compulsory Primary Education Act, 1994, (Ix Of 1994)”
Government of Punjab (2008) “Moza Statistics, 2008”, Agricultural Census Organization,
Gurumangat Road, Gulberg-III, Lahore, Pakistan
K. M. Mustafizur Rahman, Towfiqua Mahfuza Islam* and Md. Ismail Tareque, (2010)” Socio-
economic correlates of child labour in agricultural sector of rural Rajshahi District, Bangladesh”
Department of Population Science and Human Resource Development, University of Rajshahi,
Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh.
Siddqi, A. F. (2009) “Child Labor Dynamics in Punjab” Journal of Third World Studies. Vol. XXVI, No. 2,
2009 by Association of Third World Studies, Inc.
UNICEF, (1997), “The State of World’s Children” UNICEF House, 3 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017,
USA
UNICEF (2008), “Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, Punjab, 2007-08” It’s a joint report from Punjab
Bureau of Statistics Planning and Development Department Government of Punjab and UNICEF

61
ANNEX I: CHILD LABOUR BASELINE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES

ANNEX II: AUTHORS AND EDITORIAL TEAM.

Nazim Ali
Monitoring & Evaluation specialist
Sustainable Development policy Institute

Talimand Khan
Survey coordinator
Sustainable Development policy Institute

Mohsin Ali Kazmi

Monitoring & Evaluation officer
Sustainable Development policy Institute

62
ANNEX III: DEFINITION AND MATRIX OF HAZARDOUS WORK.
According to the general definition of hazardous forms of child labour, work is hazardous when it is
likely to harm, by its nature or the circumstances by which it is carried out, the health, safety or
morals of children.

HAZARDOUS CHILD LABOUR: THE IDENTIFICATION OF ACTIVITIES AND SECTORS

The ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) has designed a
guideline for all ILO members that should be considered when preparing the list of hazardous types
of work [IPEC 2008]. Some sectors have been categorized as a hazardous form of child labour in one
country, but not in another, such as the sugar cane harvest in Bolivia and Peru respectively. These
sectors are advised by ILO Recommendation 190, an accompaniment to Convention 182, in which
characteristics are listed, that define the work as hazardous. National legislation can make mention
of specific hazardous activities or sectors or describe aspects of work that are prohibited to be
carried out by children.
According to the ILO, work can be harmful by its nature or by the conditions in which it is carried out.
In the general definition, work is hazardous when it is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of
children. This definition includes a wide variety of activities.

A LEGAL FRAMEWORK AGAINST CHILD LABOUR

Two UN agencies have directed their attention to the prevention of child labour worldwide: the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). They have
helped define the problems and develop international legal frameworks to correct them. As a result
of their work, we now have several international treaties (or conventions), banning child labour and
identifying concrete measures for Governments to take. Once a country ratifies a convention, UN
bodies monitor compliance and hold countries accountable for violations.
1919: The first ILO child labour convention, the Minimum Age (Industry) Convention (No. 5), adopted
within months of the creation of the International Labour Organization, prohibited the work of
children under the age of 14 in industrial establishments.
1930: The ILO Forced Labour Convention (No. 29) protected children from forced or compulsory
labour, such as victims of trafficking, children in bondage, like Iqbal, and those exploited by
prostitution and pornography.
1966: The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, re-emphasizing issues of slavery and
forced or compulsory labour, was adopted by the General Assembly, along with the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights calling for the protection of young people from
economic exploitation and work hazardous to their development.
1973: The key instrument of the ILO was adopted: Convention No. 138 on the minimum age for
admission to employment (15 or the age reached on completion of compulsory schooling).
1989: The UN adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifying the right of the child to
be protected from economic exploitation and hazardous work, and the refraining of States from
recruiting any person under 15 into the armed forces.
1999: ILO unanimously adopted the Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action
for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182).
63
ILO CONVENTION NO. 182

ILO Convention No. 182 is considered by many as perhaps the most significant legal instrument to
tackle child labour. It defines the worst forms of child labour and asks all Governments to ban them.
These are:
 All forms of slavery; ·
 Child prostitution; ·
 The use of children for illicit activities, especially drug trafficking;
 Work exposing children to grave health and safety hazards.
Ratification of the Convention should be the first and immediate task for all Governments. It will
mean acceptance of the Convention by national parliaments. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his
Millennium Report has urged all Member States to ratify and implement the Convention without
delay. Once Governments have ratified the Convention, they must apply it in law and in practice.
Among other things, Governments should:
1. Introduce action programmes to remove and prevent the worst forms of child labour;
2. Provide direct assistance for the rehabilitation of children and their social integration;
3. Ensure access to free education;
4. Identify children at special risk;
5. Take account of girls and their special situation.
Governments must also report regularly to the ILO regarding the application of the Convention and
be accountable for all allegations of violations.

THE HAZARD RATING MATRIX (HRM)

WORK INTENSITY

DEGREE OF SAFETY LIGHT MODERATE HEAVY

Totally allowed for Conditionally allowed Very Hazardous;

SAFE young workers for young workers should be banned

Conditionally allowed Very Hazardous; Very Hazardous;

MODERATELY SAFE for young workers should be banned should be banned

Very Hazardous; should Very Hazardous; Very Hazardous;

UNSAFE be banned should be banned should be banned

List of hazardous works in District Sahiwal

Cotton Picker Shoemaker

Farmer Melting Iron
Harvester Machine Operator
Cultivator Worker
Brick Making Thread Making
Carpenter Iron Worker
Labour Labour
Loading

64
ANNEX IV: CHILDREN’S WORK AND CHILD LABOUR - A NOTE ON
TERMINOLOGY
Child: An individual who is under the age of 18 years based on the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 1989 and the ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (No. 182),
1999. Since it is commonly accepted that a child under five years of age is too young to be engaged in
work or to start schooling6, this national framework considers only the child population aged 5-17
years.
Economically active children: Those children who are “working” or “at work”. They work one or
more hours for pay or profit or working without pay in a family farm or enterprise. Whether paid or
unpaid, the activity or occupation could be in the formal or informal sector and in the urban or rural
areas. Children engaged in unpaid activities in a market-oriented establishment operated by a relative
living in the same household and children working as domestic workers in someone else’s household
are considered as economically active. However, children engaged in domestic chores within their
own households are not considered as economically active.

Child Labour: The concept of child labour is based on the ILO Minimum Age Convention (No.
138), 1973 which represents the most comprehensive international definition of minimum age for
admission to employment or work, implying “economic activity”. Therefore, child labour consists of
all children under 15 years of age who are economically active excluding (i) those who are under five
years old and (ii) those between 12-14 years old who spend less than 14 hours a week on their jobs,
unless their activities or occupations are hazardous by nature or circumstances. Added to this are 15-
17 years old children in the worst forms of child labour. Convention 182 defines worst forms of child
labour as under:
(a) All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children,
debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory
recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;
(b) The use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for
pornographic performances;
(c) The use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and
trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;

(d) Work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the
health, safety or morals of children (hazardous occupations/processes defined under the national
laws).

6
International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), 1997: UNESCO
65
ANNEX V: REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF CHILDREN INVOLVEMENT IN
WORK AND CHILD LABOUR
Probability of being in child labour is binary variable that assumes value 1 if a household reported
child labour and 0 if household didn’t report child labour. If dependent variable is binary then simple
linear regression should be avoided because of various reasons.
 In linear regression, fitted line is linear and assumes any value that may be greater than 1 or
less than zero. This is not the case in binary choice model. For example, probability for a
child to be in child labour cannot be more than 100%.
 Marginal probability on any point is constant in linear regression. i.e. at all income level,
marginal probability of child to be in labour would be constant in linear regression that is not
the case. Probabilities are usually no linear i.e. at lower income level there would be high
probability of a child to be in labour but at higher income level this marginal probability may
be quite low.
 There may be problem of heteroscedasticity in linear regression due to asymmetric
distribution of response variable. Though it can be controlled by using robust method.
Keeping in view these problems, logit model was selected to valuate different factors contributing in
decision of household to put their children in child labour. At household level, different factors were
tried, and following factored played most significant role.
1. Locality: whether it is located in urban area of rural area. It was observed in previous
chapters that incidence of child labour is higher in rural areas. To capture the impact of
locality dummy variable was defined that had value 1 for urban household and 0 for rural.
2. HHH Literacy: literacy of head of household also played significant role in determining
incidence of child labour. If head of household is educated, s/he would have better job and
better income. This is also dummy variable 1 for literate head and 0 for otherwise.
3. Per capita income: There two factor interacting with each other and with child labour. i.e.
number of household members and income of household. To combine both, income without
child contribution was divided by number of family members. In some households where
children income is only source, this would become zero. This is continues variable; range and
mean is presented in following table.
4. Dependency ration: it was calculated by dividing employed persons in family by total
number of members. This is also continues variable.
Descriptive statistics is given in following table:

Table A1: Descriptive Statistics of in/dependent variable use in model

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

Child Labour 300 .00 1.00 .8233 .38202
Urban 300 .00 1.00 .3300 .47100
HHH literacy 300 .00 1.00 .4467 .49798
Per Capita Income 300 .00 20.00 1.8466 1.89480
Dependency ratio 300 .00 1.00 .4744 .21349
Valid cases 300

66
With above mentioned variables, logit model was run and following output was gained:
Table A2: Model Summary

-2 Log Cox & Snell R Nagelkerke R

Step likelihood Square Square
1 132.734a .387 .639
a. Estimation terminated at iteration number 7 because
parameter estimates changed by less than .001.

Cox & Snell R Square is pseudo R-square that tell about extent of variation explained by independent
variable. In simple linear regression, R-square can assume maximum value 1 but in Cox & Snell R-
square, this may not be the one. To adjust this, Nagelkerke R Square is used. According to this table,
R square is about .64 that means it has strong predictive power. Similarly following table shows the
percentage of cases that were predicted accurately.

Table A3: Classification Tablea

Predicted
Child Labour
Not in Child Percentage
Observed Labour Child Labour Correct
Not in Child Labour 36 17 67.9
Child Labour 6 241 97.6
Overall Percentage 92.3
a. The cut value is .500

According to this table, out of total 53 cases 36 cases i.e. 67.9 percent were predicted by model
accurately that were supposed to be in ‘Not in Child Labour’ and model kept them in same category.
In child labour category, there is deviation of six cases giving an overall prediction of 92.3 percent.
With good predictive power, model gave following coefficients for each independent variable.

Table A4: Variables in the Equation

B S.E. Wald df Sig. Exp(B)
Step 1a Urban -.947 .462 4.206 1 .040 .388
HHH literacy -1.449 .511 8.046 1 .005 .235
Per Capita Income -.818 .166 24.397 1 .000 .441
Dependency ratio 9.002 1.747 26.555 1 .000 8121.201
Constant 1.137 .726 2.452 1 .117 3.118

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Table A4: Variables in the Equation
B S.E. Wald df Sig. Exp(B)
Step 1a Urban -.947 .462 4.206 1 .040 .388
HHH literacy -1.449 .511 8.046 1 .005 .235
Per Capita Income -.818 .166 24.397 1 .000 .441
Dependency ratio 9.002 1.747 26.555 1 .000 8121.201
Constant 1.137 .726 2.452 1 .117 3.118
a. Variable(s) entered on step 1: Urban, HHH literacy, Per Capita Income, Dependency ratio.

All variables have expected signs; being in urban area reduces probability of child labour by 0.947
logit points. Literacy of head of household reduces probability of child labour by 1.45 logit points and
with increase in per capita income by 1000; there will be decrease in probability of child labour by
0.818 points. While dependency ration is the only variable that contributes towards child labour
because of there are more dependent on earning hands, head wants his eldest child to be in child
labour as early as possible.
Of all these variables, most flexible variable is per capita income. Other variables are difficult to
change; like it is difficult for household to shift from rural to urban or vice versa, or to educate its
head or change number of dependents. Therefore for the sake of analysis, per capita income was
taken. Following graph show probability of being a child labour household at different level of per
capita incomes.

Graph A1 : Graph between per capita income and probability of being a child labour household
Probability

Income in thousands

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 This graph shows a declining trend in probability with increase in income. We can see that keeping
all other variables constant (at average level); households having per capita income between 5 and 6
thousands are vulnerable. They are likely to put their children in child labour. At 4 thousand,
probability is about 80 percent, which mean, household at this income level has child labourer.
To see difference between rural and urban areas, we had two lines blue line for rural areas and red
for urban areas. There is significant difference between two. At same level of income, probability for
child labour in rural area is higher than urban areas.
This is very important to note that only income does not matter. Tradition or social environment also
matter in decision about child labour. For example at 5 thousand income level, probability in urban
areas is about 40 percent while in rural areas it’s about 65 percent.

Graph A2: Graph showing rural/urban difference in probability of child labour

Probability

Income in thousands

LIST OF TABLES (Based on the Analysis)

LIST OF FIGURES (As appropriate)

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