Punjab chief minister has set the seal of approval on an ordinance which bans hiring children younger under the age of 14, and from working in hazardous conditions. The 2016 Restriction of Employment of Children Ordinance is expected soon after Punjab governor approves it. A Steering Committee, under the convener-ship of Labour and Human Resource Minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar and co-convener-ship of the chief secretary, has also been set up to deal with children working in various places, such as petrol stations.
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took part in a memorandum of understanding signing ceremony on Thursday in connection with skill training of identified children involved in child labour. The provincial Labour department and the Punjab Vocational and Training Council signed the agreement which calls for skill training of 69,000 children between 14 and 18, being identified in a child labour survey carried out by the Bureau of Statistics in 10 different districts.
The training will take six months, to be started in August. In his address, Minister Sarwar told his audience, "This training programme will play a pivotal role in eliminating child labour and poverty as trained children will be able to earn their living and degrees by institute.
Representatives of the Bureau of Statistics then talked about extending their child labour survey to 13 other districts. The ceremony was also attended by Punjab Vocational Training Council Chairman Faisal Ijaz Khan and his council Research and Development Manager, Shafqat-ur-Rehman Chaudhry, Labour Secretary Nawazish Ali, Project Director Saeed Wattoo and representatives of the Urban Unit.
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