The bane of child labour

IF pictures speak a thousand words than the photograph appearing recently in this newspaper of a boy pulling ropes at a rope factory have spoken more than a thousand words and very poignantly so. To any sensitive person the sight of an underage boy, labouring in hazardous conditions, and that too for a pittance, must evoke the most contemptuous reaction, as it does in us.
We have been appalled by the news accompanying the picture of how children, as young as seven, are being made to work in factories producing ropes; and four of the factories mentioned in the report are working in the open under the Buriganga Bridge at Keraniganj.
What we fail to understand is the lack of sensitivity to the issue of child labour that has been demonstrated by all quarters, and in this case in particular, and regrettably, no one has taken notice of it.
And what is even more detestable is that these children are being made to work long hours, beyond even what is laid down for other workers in Bangladesh. And the employers say without any qualms that they employ minors because they are better suited than a grown up for this job.
The employers of the said rope factories are breaching two laws of the land at the same time. Not only are they employing persons below the permissible age, the minors are being made to work for long hours and are not being provided with the necessary measures to protect themselves against work hazards, not to speak of the poor pay. And some of these children are showing signs and symptoms of heart and lung diseases that are normally associated with the kind of occupation they are engaged in. And they are, in all likelihood, being sent to an early death.
Child labour is an issue that needs a very well planned approach. We must not overlook the economic dimension of the matter. In most cases the child is forced to work to supplement the family income. And there is no dearth of immoral persons who are ready to exploit these people. Regrettably, we neither have a social safety net programme that addresses this particular aspect, nor are the oversight mechanisms adequate enough to prevent child exploitation. It is time the government came out with a down-to-earth programme that would not only stop unscrupulous employers from employing minors, the compulsions of families to send their minor children to work must also be removed.