Bamyan: Orphans engaged in labor to be enrolled in orphanage

BAMYAN CITY (Pajhwok): Local officials in central Bamyan province say orphaned children and child laborers will be collected and enrolled in orphanages.

Labor and Social Affairs director Qari Zainullah Masrour told Pajhwok Afghan News that orphaned children and those engaged in heavy works in Bamyan city would be identified by a committee and referred to orphanages.

He said the committee was comprised of officials from the police headquarters and departments of social affairs, haj and religious, information and culture, municipality, education, Red Cross, martyrs and disabled, and public health.

Masrour added the task of the committee was to identify orphans and children without guardians and introduce them to orphanages in order to get education and have a prosperous life.

He clarified that vulnerable children engaged in mining, brick kilns, harmful substance processing factories, slaughterhouses and other hard and dangerous work will be identified by the committee and will be kept in the orphanage of the Department of Labor and Social Affairs.

He added the orphanage was a safe and standard place with a capacity for 200 children. He said 100 such girls and 100 boys would be identified and trained.

Welcoming the government’s move working children said it was their wish to live in a safe place and enjoy the blessing of education.

Najibullah, a child who is working in a blacksmith shop, told Pajhwok that working in the blacksmith shop was difficult and beyond his physical ability.

He said he was working in the young age due to poverty and wished to live in a safe place and get proper education.

sa/ma