Pakistan is a densely populated Islamic country with a population of 220 million. The overwhelming majority – 97% – of its population is Muslim and the remaining 3% are people of other faiths, including Christians, Catholics, Hindus, Sikhs, Parsees and other faith communities.
Most minorities in Pakistan have a substandard quality of life. Their economic resources are extremely limited and must support families that typically have 5 or more members. Only a small number of children manage to complete their studies and graduate from school. It is very difficult for impoverished parents to provide a good education to their children. Hardship often forces them to withdraw their children from school and send them to work in order to earn money for the families’ basic necessities.
Agriculture and industry are the most common sources of income. Most of the country’s people migrate from villages to cities to find jobs and the essentials of daily life. Wages are extremely low, and most residents rent rather than own their homes. They earn less but spend more on grocery, utilities or the basic necessities.
With their meager income devoted to basic survival, families have no money to pay their children’s education. As a result, many of the children – especially girls – accompany their mothers to clean the homes of wealthy clients. A large number of young boys also work in factories for low wages.
While education has been decreed as a universal right for children, impoverished Pakistani girls and boys are deprived of even basic instruction, and the ranks of child laborers grows, only to repeat a damning cycle of despair.
The Constitution of Pakistan states that every child has right has right to get free and compulsory education. Yet millions of children in the country deprived of their basic constitutional right. According to one report by Alif Ailaan entitled “25 Million Broken Promises,” some 25.02 million Pakistani children between the age of 5 and 16 are deprived of their right to an education.
