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| Child Labour |
Child labour is a
burning question of the day. When the
children of the age of 5-14 years are employed to work for pay or profit, or without pay in a family,
enterprise or
organization, it is called
child labour. It has become a serious socio-
economic problem in
Bangladesh. It is a curse and a satire to our
development programmers.
About one tenth of global children population under15 years of age work in various occupation, some of which are hazardous.
Child labour was first recognized as a
social problem with the introduction of factories in the late
18th century in
Great Britain. In the
USA, it was
acknowledged as a
problem after the civil war. In earlier days,
children worked as apprentices in factories or as servants in families. But in factories their
employment soon turned into virtual slavery. Although most
European nation had
child labour laws by 1940, the urgency of production during the second world war brought many children back into the labour market.
Child labour in
Bangladesh has become very acute nowadays.
Approximately 19% of the total child population of
Bangladesh works as child labour. The
proportion is much higher in case of boys (22%) than in case of girls (16%). A dense population, limited resources, poverty etc. have contributed to the increasing
child labour in
Bangladesh.
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| Child Labour |
Child labour is a degradation of humanity. At this age, they are supposed to go to school. Instead, they take up
hammer,
busker, rickshaw or
van in their hands and
remain unfed, half-clad and bare-footed. Many of them work as domestic servants, whereas sometimes they are engaged to work in the
fields, shops, hotels, restaurants and
small factories. They are also seen to break bricks and to carry other building materials.
The root cause behind
child labour is poverty. As most of the families have low income, their children are forced to do manual labour to support their families. Often
employers offer low pay for certain jobs which the grownups do not do. Such kinds of jobs are done by
children.
Unawareness and apathy of the parents towards
education is another cause for
child labour in
Bangladesh. So, poverty, exploitation, deprivation and lack of
good monitoring of law are the main causes of
child lanbour.
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| Child Labour |
Child labour destroys the sweet period of childhood and face the
children with the hard realities of life. Wherever they are
employed, they are deprived of proper care, food, medical treatment and basic human rights.
Children work for longer hours but they are not given due wages. Sometimes, they have to work in unhealthy
atmosphere and are involved in risky or dangerous work. All are against the
dignity and
self-esteem of a
child. It hampers their
education as well as their physical and able to lead the
nation in the
future.
Child labour is not
illegal in
Bangladesh. But the law discourages the employment of children. There is a number of laws and Acts relating to the
protection and welfare of
children in
Bangladesh. The shops and
Establishments Act (1965) prohibits employment of
children below 12 years in
shops and commercial establishments. The factories Act (1965), the minimum Wages Ordinance (1961), the
Children’s Act (1974) etc. provide for minimum age, wages and other facilities for juvenile workers in
Bangladesh.
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| Child Labour |
As a
nation, we cannot remain simply a silent observer of
child labour. Both the
Govt. and other
NGO’s should work together to root out this evil from the
society. For this, poverty alleviation
programme must be strengthened. Poor parents should be paid allowances to increase their income.
Govt. must ensure that
children do not drop out from schools. Strict laws should be enacted and enforced against employing
children in manual work. After all, mass awareness against
child labour should be raised amongst all people.
Children of today are the future of a country. A country of children without the light of
education and having ill-health expedite the degeneration of the
nation. In effect, they become a long standing burden on the
nation. So, all of us must strive against
child labour and ensure a
peaceful, carefree and secured world for our
children.
