Education Scholarships for Child Labourers in Pakistan

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Today, thousands of children around Peshawar are working 14-16 hour days in dangerous brick kilns at the expense of attending school. As out-of-state migrants, these children are excluded from Pakistani government schools and are unable to afford school uniforms, fees, supplies and transportation, these children will be denied even the most basic levels of education and thus condemned to a life of subsistence labour and poverty.

How will this project solve this problem?

The project will eliminate this barrier to education by (a) mobilizing migrant families to enroll their children in school and (b) providing the children with 2 school uniforms, a book bag, shoes, tuition stipends and transportation (as needed). We put particular emphasis on girls education as in this area educating girls is a low priority and if the family can only afford for one child to go to school that will always be a boy.

Potential Long Term Impact

We believe education is not only a fundamental right, but is the most powerful catalyst for human development: children with even the most basic levels of education have better life options, earning potential and health, and raise healthier children.

Project Message

Musar is 12 years old and is the son of a brick kiln worker whose job it is to ensure that the brick kiln keeps working 24 hours a day by feeding the fire coal. If the fire goes out the brick kiln owner loses a great deal of money. Musar helps his father with this work 7 days a week. In January 2009 Abaseen Foundation arrived on the brick kiln to open a girls and a boy’s school. Prior to this Musar and his friends had only been able to dream about going to school as their destiny was to work on the brick kilns uneducated for the rest of their lives. The dream of education is the dream of obtaining a ticket to a better life away from the brick kilns and almost certain pre mature death due to ill health caused by the working conditions. Musar’s friends enrolled in the school but Musar was not allowed to go as his father needed his help to continually feed the fire of the brick kiln. Musar refused to miss the chance of his dreams coming true and over a few weeks managed to negotiate with his father to allow him to come to the school on the following conditions (designed by Musar) – he rises and starts work at 4.30am and works on the brick kiln until 7.30am, he then attends school until 12.30pm when he returns to work on the brick kiln. Musar is so happy but as far as we are concerned this is only the beginning of making his dreams come true, we employ social mobilizers to go onto the brick kilns and work with the families of the children who are attending the schools to attempt to improve their lives further, for example, try to do something about the work these children have to do as well as coming to school.