About 8,000 child laborers have been identified: Authorities

KABUL (Tolo News): The Department of Labor and Social Affairs of Badakhshan announced the identification of nearly 8,000 children who are engaged in hazardous work in this province.

According to the ministry, education has been provided for more than 300 of these children by an aid organization.

Abdul Saboor Foladi, an official of Labor and Social Affairs of Badakhshan, said: “Approximately 7,000 to 8,000 children have been surveyed on the road, the ADWSO office has covered approximately 300 children and has created a center near the security command where the children are trained daily.”

Poverty, and the difficult living conditions of families have caused children, instead of going to school and continuing their education, have to work hard labor.

A gold mine is located in the 8th district of Faizabad city, the capital of Badakhshan Province, where a part of the mining workforce is made up of children deprived of education.

“It’s been three or four years since we left school and I was in class eight, now we are working in this mine, pulling ropes from this 40-50 meter tunnel,” Ahmad Fawad told TOLOnews.

“Our economic situation is bad and I was in the sixth grade of school, which I left to help with my father’s farm work,” said Ebadurrahman, a child laborer.

These children said that in exchange for their work, they get a wage of two to three thousand Afghani every month to support their families.

Another number of these children who are engaged in hazardous work in the mines said that they have not been able to continue their education due to economic challenges.

They added that if educational opportunities are provided to them, they are interested in participating in the reconstruction and prosperity of the country’s future.

“We have been working in this mine for two years, I don’t like working here,” said Ahmad Sahaab, a child laborer.

“I want the government to provide us with education opportunities so that we don’t have to work anymore, just go to school,” said Ahmad Farid, another child laborer.

Earlier, some residents of Badakhshan asked the authorities to provide permanent jobs for families whose children are engaged in hazardous work.