Child labour takes a sharp shape

Amirul Islam: The term child labour has become a burning issue in the developing countries like Bangladesh as far as socio-economic challenges and political obstacles are concerned. The extent of child labour has rapidly increased in Bangladesh. People from lower class are striving hard to meet their basic needs. The issue of child labour has become a threat to our society and economic progress.

Child Labour situation in Bangladesh

Like many other South Asian countries, child labour is also prevalent in Bangladesh. In childhood days when children are supposed to go to schools with books, papers, pencils and play with their friends, many children have to work for their family livelihood. When a poor father becomes victim to the scourge of persistent poverty, it is impossible for him to keep his children safe, cuddled and bonded with family by parental care. In this stage once dislodged from the family, children become one of the mass of the society.

 A minor girl convincing persons inside a car to buy flowers. Photo: Internet

Some of them start selling their labour as workers in hotel-restaurant, factory workshop, and as domestic workers. Beside these, children also are engaged in load carrying at the market, job of a porter, begging, rickshaw pulling, pulling of hand carts, bidi stacking etc. Some turn into street children being unable to manage a job. Despite possessing all the childlike attributes, a significant number of them become rootless and ruthless being because they have been disintegrated from their families and nobody owns them as pleasing human beings. Eventually they are deprived from all opportunities of proving themselves as good citizens.

Another discouraging side of child labour in Bangladesh is that some children are enticed to leave their villages for towns and cities and often trafficked abroad where girls are compelled to engage in prostitution and pornography while boys get involved in many anti-social and illicit activities.


Dangers and risks children face at workplace

Some minor boys pick brick chips. Photo: Internet

Third, poverty is one of the main reasons behind child labour in Bangladesh. It causes families to send children to work, often in hazardous and low-wage jobs, such as brick-chipping, construction and waste-picking. Children are paid less than adults, with many working up to twelve hours a day. Full-time work frequently prevents children from attending school, contributing to drop-out rates.

Fourth, due to lack of proper understanding of the importance and necessity of education, many parents are seen to allow their children to engage in earning money at an early age. Some parents regard education as a costly affair to continue, and a greater number of them do not bother about child labour even if they have the capacity to continue the education of their children.

It is very much possible for the government to stop rise of child labour through imparting effective education.

Programmes that can remove child labour

We can take up some programmes to reduce child labour from our country which are as follows:

First, government can work for withdrawal of hazardous labour through non-formal education and skills development training.

Second, an initiative to ensure free education can be adopted to eliminate child labour from urban slums and rural areas.

Third, programmes can be taken to reduce abuse, violence, and exploitation of children and youth by improving access to social protection services.

Fourth, programmes can be taken to rehabilitate street children engaged in risky work.

Fifth, programmes can be taken to aim at improving the evidence based on child labour and forced labour through data collection and research.

Sixth, shelters can be ensured for the children who have experienced violence, including human trafficking.

A minor boy carrying cowhides on the head. Photo: Internet

Seventh, improving legislation can address child labour issues, including by bringing local or national laws into compliance with international standards; improving the monitoring and enforcement of laws and policies related to child labour and enhancing the implementation of national and local policies and programmes aimed at the reduction and prevention of child labour in Bangladesh.

My suggestions

There are some suggestions here that can help remove child labour as follows:

1. Lifting working children from different forms of occupations including the hazardous work and the worst forms of child labour.

2. Involving parents of working children in income generating activities.

3. Offering stipend and grant in order to bring the working children back to school.

4. Extending special attention for the children who are affected by floods, cyclones, tidal bores, riverbank erosions, drought and desertification, etc.

5. Providing special emphasis for indigenous and physically challenged children to bring them back to congenial environment.

6. Providing special emphasis on slum kids.

7. Enacting pragmatic laws and strengthening institutional capacity for their enforcement.

8. Raising awareness amongst parents, mass people and civil societies about the harmful consequences of child labour.

9. Planning and implementing different short, medium and long term strategies and programmes to eliminate various forms of child labour.

10. Ensuring effective enforcement of citations and penalties for labor law violations.

There should be a way to publish information on the number of labour inspections, the number of child labour law violations and penalties issued, and the number of child labor complaints. It is also needed to publish information on the worst forms of child labour including the number of investigators, number of investigations, the number of prosecutions, the number of convictions, and penalties implemented. These ways can be a solution to eliminating child labour from Bangladesh.

risingbd/DHAKA/Nov 29, 2015/Amirul/Augustin Sujan