Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
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Child labour: One of themain drivers for child labour is poverty. As poverty is amain determinant
driving low access to schooling (see section 2), child labour is expectedly one of the most
significant impediments to demand for education in Pakistan. In a 2012 survey, the ILO estimates
that 12.5 million children in Pakistan are involved in child labour432. According to the Global
Slavery Index 2013, Pakistan comes third, after Mauritania and Haiti, in the prevalence of child
labour433 .
It is very difficult to understand the profile of children involved in labour as the last National Child
Labour Survey dates from 1996. However, UNICEF’s analysis on child labour showed that, as the
educational attainment level of the household head decreases, the likelihood of child labour
increases leading to a falling probability of children attending school434. Results also point to
increasing chances of entering labour as the child is older. Girls are 10% less likely to go to work
than boys435. Finally, the probability of a child going to work and leaving school significantly
increases when the household head is self-employed or engaged in agriculture or manufacturing.
These are sectors with high poverty incidence amongst their working populations as more labour-
intensive and as such have an increased likelihood that the family’s livelihood will need
supplementary income from children’s work. Children are employed in agriculture, factories,
small car workshops, shops, hotels, cinemas, vending on the streets, the fishing industry, mining,
brick kilns, weaving, bracelet making, packing and construction436 . Ultimately, the fact that
existing child labour laws are not enforced indicates that Article 25-A of the Constitution is not
being enforced as child labour goes against the fundamental right to education.
Refugees: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and FATA still face the challenge of hosting a large
number of Afghan refugees. According to UNHCR, as of February 2017 there are about 1.3 million
registered refugees, with 4.3 million Afghans having been repatriated between 2002 and 2016437.
The education of the first generation of refugees had been cut short by displacement in the 1980s.
As such, second and third generations face additional barriers to access to education due to self-
perpetuating cycles of poverty (and thus child labour) and strict socio-cultural expectations that
girls should remain at home. Afghans live in refugee villages but also in hosting communities as
well, where they are allowed to enrol in Pakistani public schools. Across the 54 refugee villages,
there are about 127 primary schools 438 but with limited funding, they do not retain qualified
teachers and the quality of education offered is poor as a consequence.
About 80% of refugees of school-age are out-of-school, while only about 33% of these refugees
are able to read and write. The literacy rate amongst female refugees is only 7.6%439. 90% of girls
drop out of school. Low numbers of girl graduates leads to a lower number of female teachers
432
433
434 UNICEF (2013) Annex 3
435 UNICEF (2013) Annex 3
436
437
438 UNHCR (2015)
439 UNHCR (2015)