A new law recently enacted by the Punjab government to stop children from working at brick kilns may have intimidated owners of these ‘sweat factories’. But it seems to have had little impact on most workers still using children as helping hands to supplement their meagre income at the cost of innocence.

These children can be found working at brick kilns on Raiwind Road, close to the family estate of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who had recently banished child labour, but has now apparently lost interest in the subject. As a result, the law has failed to significantly improve the conditions of children working at kilns.

During a visit to several kilns on Raiwind Road, it was revealed that many children had not been allowed by their parents to go to school. All of them could be found working at kilns. Luckily, Bushra, 10, was not among them. She was found memorising a lesson from a book in hers hands. When asked, Bushra said with a smile: “My parents and brothers got me admitted to a school two months ago.”

Before the ordinance, she was also working at a kiln along with her parents and siblings.

On the other hand, Bushra’s elder sister, Sidra, was working at a kiln as a helper. Reason: Sidra’s parents and elder brothers did not want her to go to school due to workload at the kiln as well as at home. Hence, she was still making bricks.

She said she knew nothing about any laws forbidding children from working at kilns. Attired in a shocking pink dress, she further added with a smile: “Yes, my younger sister Bushra has started going to school and I am happy to see her in school uniform. She no longer works at the kiln.”

Moving around, many girls and boys like Sidra were found working at brick kilns. Everyone had a different tale to tell. Sidra said she also wanted to go to school, but quoted her parents as saying that her younger sister Bushra was going to school, so she did not need to.

Replying to a question, she said: “I get Rs1,000 against 850 bricks which I make sometimes in a day and sometimes two days. In the beginning, I would earn only Rs250 against it.”

When asked how she worked during summers, Sidra said: “Yes, it becomes really hard to work in summer. So, we sometimes do not work during the day and complete most of our work at night or early morning.”

Sidra’s elder brother, Ahmad Khan, said, “Sidra herself did not want to go to school because she is happy working with us.” He further added, “I was also seven years old when I started working here. Now, it’s been 20 years since then. Except Bushra and my father, all my family works here; we have grown up at this site. So if Sidra also keeps working, what is wrong with it?”

Shoaib Khan Niazi, chairman of the All Punjab Brick Kiln Owners Association, said child labour could never be eliminated. “It can only be eliminated if the ones who benefit from a child’s labour (mother or father) also think about ending the practice. It is not justifiable to only hold us responsible for child labour; why does nobody ask the parents? Together, we and the parents can eliminate child labour.”

He further said they were also against child labour, but that it was sad non-governmental organisations only took pictures and exploited issues at the kilns and government officials conduct raids. Regarding closure of kilns, he said: “When you seal a kiln, it dies down.”

Sidra’s mother Amina pointed out: “All of my children started working with us at the kiln when they were seven or eight years old. Similarly, it does not matter if Sidra does not go to school because we cannot complete our work. Bushra has started going to school so it is better that Sidra stays here and work with us.”

She added, “We are not even sure whether the government is going to provide them free schooling forever. When the government stops free schooling, we will take Bushra out of the school and bring her back to work with us.”

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2016