The plight of city children

Its not easy being a child in Pakistan. Power break downs in the middle of study hour, dealing with angry neighbours whose window just got broken because there aren enough playgrounds to play cricket except the alley you live in, the unabashed ight one on the face which could have constituted child abuse in another country, and the list goes on. While these complaints may seem corny at best, UNICEFs latest report, Children in an Urban World highlights a darker grim scenario afflicting children, particularly in urban centres. Though one may assume that living in urban settings offers children better educational opportunities by default, the education gap between the richest 20 percent and poorest 20 percent is greater in urban areas than in rural areas. The average number of years of schooling of the richest 20 percent in rural areas is roughly 8 years, which is significantly more than the 3 years on average of schooling that the poorest 20 percent in urban areas get to achieve. If it is any respite, however, the gender disparity between males and females is much lower in urban areas than in rural areas, when it comes to educational attainment. As far as health is concerned, being a poverty-stricken city-dweller may not be of much advantage either. At 40, the under-five mortality rate per 1,000 births of the richest 20 percent in urban areas is shy of the much lower rates seen in countries such as India (25), Nepal (18) and Bangladesh (25). But a rate of over 100 for the poorest 20 percent living in some of Pakistans biggest cities, only brings out the obvious disparity when it comes to health provision in the country. Needless to say, a necessity as basic as potable water is subjected to urban income disparities with some slum residents drinking substandard water for the lack of a better alternative. A noteworthy point is that since the 1970s, the under-five mortality rate has decreased from 170 per 1,000 births in 1970 to 87 in 2010. However, the decreasing pace of improvement, particularly between 2000 and 2010 dampens optimism, pointing out the need to further strengthen efforts in this direction. UNICEF has highlighted recommendations for making cities more children-friendly. Decentralisation to empower municipalities in prioritising the well-being of children and young people in their jurisdictions, such as collaborating with child rights agencies, is one option. At the same time, participatory urban planning and management can also be encouraged, whereby young slum dwellers may be involved in surveying and generating useful information for their communities and municipal authorities, with some initiatives actually being undertaken in Karachi. A good example of efforts towards making urban living more decent for children of the lower strata of the society is the project Smile initiated by the Nai Zindagi Trust. Targeting homeless young people in Lahore, health professionals and social workers provide food, medical care, counseling, informal education and preliminary drug abuse treatment to children through this project. For a country that touts its demographic strength of a sizeable youth population, such measures will have to be taken in urban centres to ensure fruitful utilisation of such a rich resource.