Sir: Children are the flowers of heaven. They are the most beautiful and purest creation of God.Yet those born poor are treated coarsely. They cannot hope to go to school for lack of money. Poverty takes away childhood from them, putting them in the middle of life’s throes at a time when their mind is not developed to understand the nuances of practical life. They flounder, fall into bad hands, they learn not to learn good behaviour but harshness to protest against the coarse treatment meted out to them. According to the National Child Labour survey, approximately 3.3 million children below the age of 14 years are working as a labour force in Pakistan. This includes both boys and girls — boys form 73 percent and girls 27 percent of child labour.Child labour is a complex problem demanding a range of solutions. There is no better way to prevent child labour than to make education compulsory. The west understood this a long time ago. They made laws to secure the right of education of a child and prevent him/her from being exploited. Pakistan is way behind such reforms. Whatever is done so far in the name of law and regulation for the education system has not been implemented. There was a time when the country had even declared an education emergency but nothing came of it. Actually it is the failure of prioritizing national interests. Unless education becomes our priority we would keep building more bridges and roads but not schools for children. Abdul RehmanMirpurkhas