86pc child workers still out of school

Despite the government's continuous efforts to eliminate child labour by 2025 and ensure universal access to primary and secondary education by 2030, recent data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics paints a concerning picture.

Almost two-thirds of child labourers working in hazardous sectors are reluctant to return to school. Furthermore, many of these children do not value education, indicating a pressing need for intervention to address this worrying trend.

According to the Establishment-based Sector-Wise Working Children Survey 2023, published last Thursday, 86.2 percent of children in the five most hazardous sectors are not engaged in any educational activities.

Of those attending school, only five percent are enrolled in non-formal schools, despite their specific purpose to accommodate children who dropped out from formal schools.

Over half of the child labourers cited financial barriers as the main reason for not going to school.

These findings align with the Unesco Global Education Monitoring Report 2022, which indicated that families bear 71 percent of the cost of children's education in Bangladesh.

The survey also revealed that 64 percent female and 63 percent male child labourers expressed reluctance to reintegrate into the education system.

Earlier in 2022, a study by Education and Development Foundation (EDUCO) Bangladesh found that 46 percent of child labourers did not return to school after the pandemic.

This correspondent last year interviewed Shirin Sultana, a teacher at Bangladesh Non Formal Education learning centre in Korail slum, who said almost half of students at her centre dropped out during the pandemic and are now reluctant in returning to classrooms since they are already earning.

On March 14, BBS also released the National Child Labour Survey 2022, which revealed that almost 1,18,000 of the 1.07 million children engaged in hazardous work never attended school.

In rural areas, around 78 percent of female workers consider education as not valuable.

In urban areas, 72 percent of female child labourers cited the need to work and earn as key reason for not attending school.

The ESWCS 2023 also revealed that while 87 percent of children working in hazardous sectors are provided breaks during work hours, most of them engage in leisure activities to spend the breaks.

Mohammad Saddam Hossain Khan, deputy director and focal point officer of the NCLS 2022, emphasised the crucial role of schools as not only educational institutions but also as spaces where the children can find joy and nourishment.

"The children said that if there were fun activities and food available, they would be more interested to go to school. By meeting these needs, we can encourage more child labourers to attend school and make education more enjoyable and accessible," he explained.

Citing the 2022 Unesco report, Rasheda K Choudhury, executive director of Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE), said financial constraints pose a significant barrier to education for many children.

She strongly recommended policymakers to prioritise increasing the amount of stipends provided to students and regularly adjust these stipends considering the inflation.

"Additionally, the implementation of the mid-day meal programme, which is already in the planning, should be expedited to provide essential nutrition to students," she added.

Last year, in an interview with this correspondent, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi also emphasised that social protection programmes and safety measures such as stipends and food need to be enhanced to encourage the children to return to school, along with encouragement from parents, teachers, and the community.

Golam Mohammad Faruq, research officer at the education ministry's secondary and higher education department, stressed for expanding vocational education for children employed in hazardous sectors, and suggested increasing number of students receiving stipends to incentivise their return to school.