A Taleem-ul-Amal programme, being run by the United Nations International Children Fund (UNICEF) in different areas of the country is receiving a good response of the community.
The programme, launched in various areas of Pakistan, is aimed at helping child labourers to obtain an education and become an educated citizen and lead a respectable life.
UNICEF Pakistan Media Coordinator Sami Malik said centres have been established in Lahore, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujranwala and Faisalabad in collaboration with the business community and other implementing partners.
Sami Malik, who recently visited some centres in different areas of Punjab, told APP on Friday that there was sadness in the eyes of 12-year-old Chand Khushi Muhammad when he recalled walking the streets, collecting garbage in Sialkot, a city known for sporting goods manufacturing. “I used to collect garbage and pieces of metal from the streets to sell for about Rs 100 to 200 at the end of the day. Most children of my age in this locality did the same,” Chand said.
“Watching children going to school in clean uniforms fascinated me. But I knew that I could not go to school. My father was dead and mother could not afford sending me to one. But thanks to the intervention of a caring teacher that I am now a student at the Taleem-ul-Amal Centre,” he said with a heavy voice.Malik while quoting the teacher said when she spotted him collecting garbage one morning, she followed him home and convinced his mother to let him obtain a free education at the centre.