17pc engage in child labour

About 17 percent of the capital's 10 to 14-year-olds are engaged in child labour, which is in stark contrast to the national average, 6 percent, as per one Unicef report.

Another shows that about 22 percent of the capital's six to 10-year-olds are out of school, 13 percent of whom have never been to school and six percent dropped out. The national averages for the latter two are 11 and two percent respectively.

The findings came up in “Ending child labour in Bangladesh” and “Out-of-school children in Bangladesh” which Unicef prepared in collaboration with the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), along with another one “Towards ending child marriage in Bangladesh”.

The three policy briefs are based on Population and Housing Census 2011, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2006 and 2009, the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2010, Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS) and other secondary literature.

They were launched at a programme Unicef organised at the capital's Bangabandhu International Conference Centre yesterday morning.

“Bangladesh has more than 1.4 million children out of school, estimated 1 million children of the age 10-14 years are engaged in labour, 1.3 million children married before the age of 15 years and 3.8 million before the age of 18 years,” said Edouard Beigbeder, a Unicef representative.

He was summarising the report findings and explaining the link between these three issues.

The prevalence of child labour and children being out of schools is higher on the eastern part of the country including Chittagong Hill Tracts, Sunamganj and Dhaka while that of child marriage in the western part including Nawabganj, Meherpur and Chuadanga, as per the reports.

BIDS Senior Research Fellow Zulfiqar Ali pointed out that the demand for labour and culture of exploitation push children into the labour market, which explained Dhaka's case.

In the case of child marriage, the researcher held cultural and social factors responsible. He recommended area specific programmes to deal with these three issues.

Rasheda K Chowdhury, executive director, Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE), said often negative mindsets towards sex workers' children, people with disabilities and lack of safety and security create challenges in ensuring education for all. 

“Education in not a charity it is a right,” she said, pointing out that education of children with disabilities was still being dealt by the Ministry of Social Welfare.

“We cannot change the mentality of our country's people overnight,” said Meher Afroze Chumki, state minister for women and children affairs.

She said these problems would be solved gradually as the government continued to eradicate poverty, increase literacy and ensure security.

Chumki asked the planning minister to increase stipends for girls to ensure that they stay in schools, thereby helping prevent child marriage, something the Unicef report also recommended.

The chief guest, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, urged Unicef to enhance their budget and support.

Regarding the upcoming reformed law on preventing child marriage, he assured that the minimum marriageable age would not be reduced below 18 years.

“The honourable prime minister has announced and honourable (state) minister (of the women and children affairs ministry) reiterated it and I too know it too,” he said. 

Kaniz Fatema, secretary, Statistics and Informatics Division, Ministry of Planning, chaired the programme where Sarah Cooke, country representative, DFID Bangladesh, and BIDS Director General KAS Murshid also spoke.