Low Cost Life Saving — Underpaid security guards in Pakistan

There are many issues present in our society today and poverty no doubt is the biggest of all. Uneven circulation of money is a common observation. Rich is getting richer while poor is finding it really hard to survive. Uneven circulation of money is the main cause of unrest today.

A normal man cannot imagine what hardships labour class has to bear in order to survive in the inflated market. Labour jobs are of many kinds and there is no system in place to ensure the minimum wage. Law needs to be further tightened to ensure that no one is deprived of their rights. Pakistan is amongst the few countries where cheap labour is a common practice. Illiteracy is the root cause of poverty as lack of education closes most of the doors to earn healthy living.

The biggest surprise is that the lowest paid jobs have the highest level of risks involved. For instance, a security guard that you can see outside your office gets around Rs.7000/- per month. He is sending his kids to the school, paying the electricity bills, house rent, transportation and many other expenses. There is a high level of risk involved in security guard’s job, considering that terrorism is the biggest threat in Pakistan at the moment.

A normal man pays around Rs.25, 000/- per month for his kid’s school expenses and how that security guard is taking care of his four kids and a wife in a mere salary remains a mystery. Saeed is a 46 year old security guard and is in this profession since 12 years.

He is feeding his four children and a wife and can only afford to eat twice a day. Saeed decided to send his children to school but could only pay for the cheap Government schools. The standard of education in those schools is not hidden from any one.

There are no restrictions on the children to ensure high attendance and most of the times it is Teachers who failed to make an appearance. Saeed’s son Ali cannot write his name in English even after 6 years of education. It is such a shame that even schools are victimised by the dual standard society of today.

It has been observed that in order to achieve the needs of their families, security guards work over time. A 16 hour shift is no exception. There are occasions when the security representatives have to work a 24 hour shift without sleep. It is quite frightening to understand that the security guard outside your house or office holding a loaded gun has not slept for the past 24 hours.

The solution to the problem is that Government shall take necessary measures to ensure at least free education for those who cannot afford. A country can survive without financial capital in reserves but the future of a nation with low literacy rate is certainly disappointing.

Posted by Ahmed Babar on Oct 18 2011. Filed under Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry