Using Cash Transfer Programmes to Get Children Back to School from Work

Abstract

The prevalence of child labour in Pakistan is very high; with up to 22 percent of children between the ages of 5 and 14 years in some provinces engaged in the worst form of child labour, including bonded labour in agriculture and brick kilns, and forced domestic work (ILAB, 2020). Many child labourers work under conditions of debt bondage, forced labour and suffer from extreme physical abuse and sexual assault (Latif, Ali, Awan, & Kataria, 2016). Families substitute schooling with child work to escape poverty, and in some cases, parents work with their children as bonded labourers (Awaworyi, Iqbal, Nawaz, & Yew, 2021). Consequently, almost 23 million children between the ages of 5 and 16 years in Pakistan are out of school. According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), this translates to about 44 percent of the total population within this age group. Thus, Pakistan has one of the highest rates of out-of-school children in the world.[1] Elimination of child labour and the achievement of universal education are interconnected goals. Poverty or financial constraint is an important reason behind child labour and the deprivation of potential educational attainment. The government of Pakistan has been launching multiple social protection programs to reduce poverty specifically for the last two decades. Nonetheless, Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) is one of the largest cash transfer programs, targeting the ultra-poor segment of the society (GoP, 2020; Iqbal & Nawaz, 2019; Nayab & Farooq, 2020). The BISP cash transfer provides the additional income to the beneficiaries, which is assumed to influence households’ decisions regarding whether they should let their children work or send them for educational attainment (GoP, 2020). It is generally observed that school enrolment and attendance decline amongst the ultra-poor households as the child labour supply increases. Thus, to fully understand the dynamics of child outcomes, it is essential to also focus on school enrolment and attendance. Such outcomes are very critical in formulating the policy for any social protection policy like the BISP cash transfers.