MARDAN: The skyrocketing price hike and rapid increase in poverty ratio have forced the poor parents to engage their children in domestic labour to make both ends meet.

It is observed that the number of domestic servants has increased manifold in Mardan during the last couple of years.

According to data, collected through different sources, about 20,000 children work as domestic servants in the district and the number can be doubled in future if circumstances remain the same.

Shams Yousafzai, coordinator of Mardan Development Forum, a nongovernmental organisation, said that it was alarming for him to know that children below the age of 14 were working as domestic servants in such a large number in various parts of the district.

He said that such minors were not given proper attention, food and otherfacilities by the families with whom they were working as domestic servants.

`My name is Zakir and I belong to Kaskuroonu area. I am compelled to work in a home at Rs20 per day owing to my family`s weak financial position, said an eight-year-old boy.

He said that his father was a daily wager and they were residing in a rented house.

Talha, another child, told Dawn that his services were hired by a family as domestic servant at Rs30 per day and he had to do all domestic works of his employer.

Islamud Din Sajid while narrating his ordeal said that he was working at a private firm and got Rs6,000 monthly salary, which was not sufficient for his expenditures.

Besides, he said, the galloping price hike had made his life miserable. In such circumstances, he said, he could not send his children to school.

He added that although government was providing free education in the state-run schools yet he could afford to buy uniforms and shoes for his children.

Mr Sajid said that his children were working as domestic servants in different homes and earned Rs50 to Rs60 per day.

Advocate Saeed Usman, the districtcoordinator of Child Rights Committee (CRC), told Dawn that minors were working as domestic servants in almost all houses in Sheikh Maltoon Town.

Their duties included cleanliness of the homes, looking after children of their employers and even construction work, he added.

Mr Usman said that domestic work was not recognised as labour in countries like Pakistan. He added that it was commonly observed that domestic servants were in vulnerable position.

He said that the government should legislate on domestic labour to avoid exploitation of child workers.

Ayaz Khan, in-charge of Child Protection Unit, said that they were providing different kinds of facilities to domestic servants.

`We have reported 53 cases of domestic child labour so far,` he said, adding that they provided school uniforms, bags, books and other material to such children.

Besides, he said, they sent those children to different organisations for getting professional training and skills.

Mr Khan said that domestic servants were paid less wages as compared to their services but they could not raise voice for their rights due to poverty and fear.