SAR-E-PUL (SW) – When the sun rises, instead of going to school, a number of children in Sare-e-Pul go to brick kilns to work from morning to evening to meet the needs of their families.
These children, who are deprived of the blessing of education, have replaced children’s games with hard work with no reward. 15-year-old Navid, who works in a brick kiln to support his seven-member family, said that he handles clay from morning to evening for 200 afghanis and uses this money to make ends meet.
He asked the Islamic Emirate authorities and relief organizations to deliver their aid to the poor and needy neighborhoods because most of the families in these neighborhoods do not have meal at night.
This child added: “I work from 5:00 in the morning to 6:00 in the evening. I also want to study and progress, but what should I do? There are no breadwinners in the family, and I take bread home and I have to work fo that.”
Gol Zarin, who is 14 years old, makes clay bricks with his 12-year-old brother to meet the needs of the family. This child says that the total daily wage of him and his brother is 250 afghanis, and with this money, he provides for the needs of his family of five. Gol Zarin added that he wishes to go to school with his brother, but poverty and scarcity have prevented them from achieving their dreams. Gol Zarin said: “We work here, it pays 250 afghanis. We work daily. We take the bricks and take them away, and that’s our job.”
Meanwhile, the local officials in the province say that they have plans to help working children and provide them with education.
Fakhruddin Omir Sarpoli, head of information and culture department, said that the Islamic Emirate is trying to support the child laborers who work in the city and in the clay kilns.
According to him, working children will be collected from the city and districts of this province, and after biometrics, they will be paid monthly. He added: “Our children, who do hard work, are deprived of education and cannot take care of themselves. The elders of the Islamic Emirate collect them and give them a living.”
Based on the information of local sources and local elders, five to 20 children are working in each brick kiln in the province, most of them come from the districts of this province.
ENDS
