PESHAWAR: When he wakes up in the morning on Sundays, 15-year-old Amjad Khan does not get ready to play with children of his age in the streets of Achini, an area of Peshawar where he lives. Instead, the boy heads to Sunday Bazaar that is set up in Hayatabad, to earn a handful of money that would contribute to his poverty-stricken household.
Amjad along with 300 other children of the same age group roam around the bazaar, wheeling wheelbarrows to help customers shopping there carry the fruits and vegetables they buy.
In return for their services, the boys get around Rs20 from each person.
According to these children, they manage to make around Rs500 during the day. They said Sunday was the only day when they could make this much amount as on other days they do not have a proper source of income.
Besides wheeling products around, some of these children also sell thingsat the bazaar.
Most of these children belong to the tribal areas and have given up the desire of sitting in a classroom as they have to work to support their families.
An activist who works for child rights, Jehanzaib Khan, told Geo News that there are around 2.6 million out-of-school children across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said the reason was the lack of awareness regarding education and poverty.