Poverty puts children in risky business

Driving or working as a helper of locally made passenger vehicle "Leguna" in Dhaka city has become a source of livelihood for many children, particularly those who migrated from villages.

Twelve-year-old Bipul Chandra Saha, son of Polash Chandra Saha of Barisal, is one of them.

He works as a Leguna helper in the capital to eke out a living. Though he still continues to study, uncertainty hangs over his education.

A student of Class-IV in a primary school in Mohakhali, he works every day from 10:00am to 9:00pm, on the Farmgate-Mohakhali route. He collects fare from the passengers, precariously hanging on the back of the vehicle. It brings him Tk 200 to 300 a day.

Talking to this news agency, Bipul said his mother died when he was only two years old. His father did not marry again, but unfortunately he fell sick after a few years. Now as the only earning member of the family, Bipul needs to look after his father.

“I go to school in the morning and return at 9:30am... I cannot go to school every day as my father falls sick frequently due to his illness,” Bipul said.

Manzill Murshid, a lawyer and president of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), said the government should support the families like that of Bipul to get their children back to school as 30 percent of children dropped out before getting through Class V and were forced to work for a livelihood.

Morshed also emphasised increasing awareness on child labour and taking legal action against individuals and institutions employing children in risky jobs.

According to a 2003 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and International Labour Organization (ILO) survey, 78 lakh children were engaged in economic activities in Bangladesh, out of which 32 lakh were child labourers and 13 lakh of them were involved in hazardous work. Among the child workers, 17.4 percent were working in the capital city, it showed.

State Minister for Women and Children Meher Afroz Chumki said people employed children because their labour was cheap and they could not bargain. Poverty and lack of education remain as main causes of child labour, she noted.

She urged the NGOs to work with the government to find alternative ways for 6.5 lakh children now working in nine hazardous sectors in Dhaka, particularly in leather and chemical factories, stone breaking, motor garages and wielding activities, hotels and restaurants, and book binding.

A 2007 survey of Unicef and ILO revealed that 4.2 lakh children in the country were domestic workers, 83 percent of them girls. According to the National Child Labour Survey in 2013, around 3.4 million children are engaged in perilous works for survival.