Pakistan ’s present population is 130 million and the growing rate is 2.8% yearly. Children of below 18 are approximately 65 million in which girls are 32 million. Mortality rate in children are 100/1000.Literacy rate in this country is very low although it is very less in rural girl.56% rate is in male children who are getting primary education and girl has only 34% literacy participation in our country.

Drop-outs from primary education have the rate of more than 50 percent. Girls are much active in leaving their institutional period especially in slum and rural areas. Which causes the unawareness of the girl from every aspect of life? They are considering burden by all aspects of life like economically or socially on their families. Their work is also unrecognized whether she has to do work from day to night or even 14 to 16 hours daily but remains unrealized. Although she has participation in domestic or economic sectors but has no importance in any matter of her house like in decision-making. She has no access to resources like male child. She forcefully get married in small age and being faced the sever traditions and strict rules regarding to their personalities. She is insecure in her own house and had been exploited by different means

Study organized in the sectors of:

1.       Carpet weaving               2.       Blanket weaving

3.       Cotton ginning                4.       House-maids

These all sectors are affecting the health of the doers but the most perilous situation is existed in carpet weaving sectors that is why we select this sector with the purpose of to know the working situation of the workers and to find some best solution for the workers with the cooperation of those workers and the parents (owners) of those sectors.

WHY PARENTS AND EMPLOYERS PREFERS GIRL CHILD IN CARPET WEAVING: Carpet industry is a major employer of girls. Employers and parents prefer girls for rendering the carpet weaving.

The other reasons are as below:

Most of the parents usually get the loans from the carpet owners and who insists them to do work in the given time by involving the family members of the loanee. This loan usually utilizes on their daughter’s marriages. These cottage industries are helping them in making their social and economic condition better at some extent but due to large number of family they are unable to mange their budget according to their members’ need and lives hand to mouth. Girls working on these sectors have not satisfactory health due to frequent work and children are the most vulnerable group being under age ten due to less power of immunity in their body which caught soon the germs of any disease.

Condition of working girls: The demographic trends in Pakistan turn out to such that 40-45% of the total population is under 15 years of age are working in different private (household sectors) sectors of hazardous places.10-16 years old population was surveyed and studied their existed working conditions and situations. During study we analyze that the most hazardous section is the carpet weaving and girls affects more from these sectors they have no chance to get participate in any developmental activity and to mix with the educated class of the community.

Carpet weaving is not good for their health but no one is considering it severely because parents are helpless on doing such behavior with their Childs. During sharing they have spotlighted the often distressing and sometimes tragic conditions in which many of them work. They are invisible workers, dispersed hidden and largely ignored.

Guidance on negotiating access to education with their employers (parents) is also important for it was noted that a significant number of these domestic workers enrolled in any institution are receiving many health hazardous like they have no sense of hygienic measures, they have no access to balanced diet and they have no proper and clean place for working or living.

Main reason of their work is: Poverty and lack of resources is the chief cause of their work. That is why their houses have also not feasible condition for living. Their living standard is very low which causes the bad health of the residents and they are forced to work under such condition which that is even tough for adults. During study we found that most of the people have cottage industries, whole of the family members are involved in this activity.

Some parents start this activity at their house because they dislikes to send their girls outside of their houses for learning any skill and girls forcefully helping their parents in weaving their carpets. They are much concerned with their family members that are why they prefer to weave the carpet than studying in any institute.

HOW CARPET WEAVING IS HAZARDOUS:  Rooms are not constructed according to the health point of view and have no ventilation system. Usually these communities have crowded, poor ventilated and bad lighted rooms.

WHY THEY ARE TARGETED?     During different meetings community appreciates such effort related to girl and women’s uplift because they have much ways of development but due to lack of information they remain unrecognized in society and her activities are also remain unrealized. She wants to upgrade the level of her living in her house, on working sector, in society. But she is doing every task without any interest and parents are forcefully involves them specially in working sectors for the labor subsistence. But on the whole she has to bear many difficulties from childhood to maturity.

WHY THEY ARE TARGETED? During different meetings community appreciates such effort related to girl and women’s uplift because they have much ways of development but due to lack of information they remain unrecognized in society and her activities are also remain unrealized. She wants to upgrade the level of her living in her house, on working sector, in society. But she is doing every task without any interest and parents are forcefully involves them specially in working sectors for the labor subsistence. But on the whole she has to bear many difficulties from childhood to maturity.

Girl’s critical area of concern:

Girls have to face this discrimination in her society but being a creature or human being she demands to solve these problems and abolish these discriminations which hindered in achieving her goal in the proper way. During sharing they demand these opportunities from the society or her family to:

01. Eliminate all forms of discrimination against girls

02. Eliminate negative attitudes and practices against girls

03. Increase public awareness of the value, needs and rights of girls

04. Eliminate discrimination against girls in education, skill development and training.

05. Eliminate discrimination against girls in health and nutrition.

06. Eliminate the economic exploitation of child labour and protect young girls at work.

07. Eradicate violence against girls

08. Educate girls about social, economic and political issues and problems.

09. Strengthen the role of the family in advancing the status of the girl child.

Role of AIM: In 1997 we start to work on the issue of child labour by different ways. We are struggling to provide the facility of education, health and other basic necessities related to these children. Girls are also the part of our efforts and we are helping them in point outing the problems regarding to these girls. Carpet weaving is the hazardous sector which is affecting the health of the performer and majority of the girls are involve in this business. So, we conduct a study about these girls and want to start an activity program with them. In which they will got the opportunity of education and skill.

Objectives of the activity:

• To aware the target groups about the importance of their health.
• To aware the parents about the hazardous affects of the industry and also about the negative impacts on the health of their family members.
• To start an activity program for the social and economic uplift of the community
• To provide education and skill learning opportunities to the neglected groups of girls
• To negotiate with the employers and parents of the working girls for their education

MODES AND METHODS: This is very sensitive matter because in our societies parents dislikes to send their girls outside of their houses for the purpose of learning because it disturbs their business and the other reason is that their girls got awareness about their rights and on their demand they consider it the liberty and boldness of the girl which is not appreciable in our society. Parents share the reasons for not educating their children specially their girls in their school going age these were:

• Inadequate or non-existent child care services, requiring elder girls to stay at home to take care of younger siblings
• Economic constraints due to lost opportunity costs for girls’ labor in domestic tasks
• Inadequate public services of energy and water, requiring girls to search for and chop wood for cooking and to fetch water as the helper of their mothers
• Perceived irrelevance of the educational curriculum to the needs of girls and their families
• School schedules those conflicts with the working period or family work schedule.

In keeping the existed situation of the target group and with the special emphasis of the community it was decided to start with them an activity program in which their working girls will be taught atlas the basic primary education along with their work. The other activity will start with them the skill learning program. This will be planned how and when they will teach and target group will also decide the suitable time for their learning; because it is the need to educate the girls which will prove very useful in their work and also in future.

Educational activity will comprise on two methods:

01. General awareness                   02. Basic Primary education

GENERAL AWARENESS: These girls have the trend to live inside of their houses and do not like to mix with others and the reason of this hesitation is illiteracy and poverty. So, our study reveals to start such programs with them by which they will gain

=> Confidence     => Self-reliance     => Abolish inferior complex     => Sense of security     => Access to their rights

By organizing such activities with these working girls we will mobilize the importance of girl in society and also will create in them the courage for survival.

This general awareness will be about:

01. Social knowledge    02. Rights of girl         03. Health and hygiene      04. Income generating and home budgeting    

05. Environmental protection    06. Child care

This awareness will help them in their married life and also they will face the difficulties of life courageously.

 Basic Primary Education: A center will be developed for the teaching. This education will be started after a meeting with parents and employers of these girls in which they will decide the time for their study. They will reduce the time of their work in which they will teach Urdu and Maths. English will also the part

of their study but more stress will be given to first two subjects which will help them in their future. It will help them in counting the knots and also in their home budgeting. Time of their study will be of two hours 2:00 to 4:00 daily .Sunday will be their off day from work and education in which they will help their mother in household activities and also will take rest from the whole week’s tiredness.

Teacher will responsible for the effective teaching for these girls. He/she will teach them by games, puzzles and in recreational way. It will enable them to read and write the required things or their names in Urdu and English. They will move in society with full confidence and hesitation will also removes from their personalities.

Education will be through different recreational ways and many colorful things will be used in their studies for the effective and fast learning these are:

=> Abacus with different colorful things    => Flash cards of alphabets     => Colored charts     => TV/VCR

=> Educational movies     => Symbols of alphabets     => Thermopore sheets for practical

The other component of the activity program is “Skill learning activity”. In this activity they will get training in different skills like home based enterprise, handicraft outflow and micro entrepreneurship.  But all these training will be organized with the participation and willingness of the community. According to their point of view they realize the importance of skills and also they are interested in making their economic condition more strong and powerful for their development. These training are also the part of this activity but it will organize gradually and at the suitable time for the effective learning. Trainings will be organized in keeping the component of economic alternative activity by which they will protect them from diseases and will keep them sound and healthy.

Some other advantages of this program are:  

Girls will get the strength of confidence.

Conscious about their own or family member’s health

Protect them from exploitation

Access to their rights

Aware about their responsibilities

Eliminate their inferior complex

Making their future bright

Education will help them in all fields of life

Great participation in every activity

OUTCOMES OF THIS ACTIVITY: This activity is oriented with special emphasis of parents and girls whom are working in different sectors of carpet weaving which are affecting directly their health and respiratory system. This community is totally unaware about the disadvantages of these sectors and continuously works without considering its inutilities. Girls are the direct beneficiaries of our this activity and due to our study we got some outcomes which we will got after starting this activity with community these are:

• Parents will aware about the importance of education
• Girls will get the opportunity for polishing their personality according to the standard of the society.
• They will help their parents and husband in making their economic condition more strong
• After marriage child care will not disturbs them due to the education and awareness.
• They will manage their budget properly for the whole month.
• Equality of both male and female child will be considered.
• Training will prove as the economic alternative for them which will protect them from health hazardous is insecure in her own house and  had been exploited by different means

AIM’s learning from this project: Education programs for such girls (carpet weaving) cannot be possible without the motivation or consent of the parents and employers. Further, the classes and subjects must be according to the need, receptivity and availability. Celebration of the international days and annual recreational tours also have vital role for the awareness and development, these activities also keep the girls regular to attend the centers.