Childhood gone too soon

Some four months ago, 10-year-old Shawon's daily routine included attending school, playing his favourite games with his friends and reading story books.

However, the simple things in life could not stay as simple for much longer.

Shawon's father, a van-puller by profession, fell sick last January. So, Shawon's elder brother Jibon (16) had to take up the job of an assistant at a food stall in Dhaka University's Muktijoddha Ziaur Rahman Hall.

Five months later, Shawon, a third-grader of a local primary school in Madaripur's Kalkini, joined his brother. The sustenance of the family got much harder with solely Jibon's income, so Shawon had to drop out of school and join him in May.

The two brothers are currently supporting the family comprising their sick father, mother and an elder sister.

I enjoyed going to school, playing football and taking a dip in the pond any time I wanted to. I want to continue my studies if given the scope. Shawon, a canteen worker at DU

Their day starts early in the morning, and they have to work 16 hours a day to make ends meet.

Every day after waking up, Shawon cleans up the stall, fetches water, prepares dough for bread, serves food and sometimes delivers food to the hall's rooms.

He earns Tk 4,000 per month for the work.

Reminiscing about the times he was in school, Shawon said, "I enjoyed going to school, playing football and taking a dip in the pond any time I wanted to."

"I want to continue my studies here if given the scope," he told this correspondent.

The brothers are not the only ones. At least 200 children -- aged between eight and 16 years -- work at different canteens and food stalls in 19 student dorms and faculty residences at DU.

The university authorities run two schools but have little to no opportunities for these children to study at those institutions.

This correspondent talked to 20 such child workers on the DU campus, most of whom said they were forced to quit school and start working, owing to their families' worsening economic status.

According to National Child Labour Survey 2021 by Bureau of Statistics, the country currently has 34,50,000 child workers, of whom, 12,80,000 are involved in hazardous work.

"Although there is a provision that states it is illegal to employ children in labour, there is child labour everywhere in the country. Dhaka University is not an exception," said educationist Prof Abul Kashem Md Fazlul Huq.

"However, the work environment at Dhaka University is far better than other risky jobs for children. If the authorities want they can make arrangements for education for these working children. They can make it imperative for canteen owners to let these children study during gap hours," he said.

Mentionable, DU authorities lease out the hall canteens to private companies, which run them and hire staff for doing so.

According to National Child Labour Survey 2021 by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the country currently has 34,50,000 child workers, of whom, 12,80,000 are involved in hazardous work.

Firoz Hasan, who teaches at a school for underprivileged children, said 35 to 40 children, earning a living by selling flowers around TSC, are regular students of the makeshift school they run at Suhrawardy Udyan.

"If any of the children working inside the campus canteens want to study, we can accommodate them. But they seldom have the time to study given the work hours," said Firoz.

Contacted, Jahangir Alam, proprietor of the canteen at Shaheed Sergeant Zahurul Haque Hall, said a while back, some of the hall students used to teach these children.

"It's not that we want to encourage child labour. But these children also have no option as they have to support their families back home," he said.

"If the university authorities offer them a chance to study during their free time, we have no objection. It will be a good initiative," he said.

Contacted, DU Vice Chancellor Prof Md Akhtaruzzaman expressed interest in taking responsibility to arrange for the education of these child workers.

He, however, believes that they should be provided with technical education, instead of a traditional one. He said he will discuss the issue in the upcoming provosts' standing committee meeting.