Published on 12:00 AM, September 28, 2019

Eliminating child labour

A lot achieved but more needs to be done

Any social problem has to be addressed by both the government and the society at large, more so when it involves an issue as important as child labour. The redeeming feature is that there has been good progress in ending child labour in Bangladesh. Over the last ten years, the number of child labourers in the country has decreased from 7.9 million to 3.45 million, according to the BBS data. While that is the positive side, what is of grave concern is that reduction in the number of children engaged in hazardous work has been only marginal. It is worth noting that child labour has decreased in the rural areas and fewer children are working as house help. But the fact that there are nearly four million children engaged in working to supplement their parents' income is a discouraging picture.    

Admittedly, child labour is a daunting issue in Bangladesh particularly, and eradicating it has to take into consideration the causative factors that compel parents to employ their children when they should be actually going to school. And hazardous work, regrettably, pays more than the more sedentary work (if there can be any work sedentary at all for children). 

Admittedly too, the problem needs a step-by-step approach to see the end of the phenomenon. The government is signatory to the international conventions on the rights of children and has formulated the National Child Labour Elimination Policy that puts forward a well-defined six-point strategy. However, the reality is that, children under the age of 14 are working for an average of 64 hours a week, and children as young as 6 employed full-time and others are working up to 100-110 hours a week. On average, the working children earned less than USD 2 a day. That is according to a survey conducted not very long ago. For any strategy to bear fruit, it has to be enforced. And awareness and affordable, if not free, school are two factors that the government must push vigorously on a priority basis.

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