Every child is special
Photo: Wahid Adnan / driknews
Child labour is the most severe form of child exploitation. They are forced to work for a living, sacrificing their childhood as well as their future for bare survival of self and family. Bangladesh is the home of 6.6 million working children, accounting for more than five percent of the world's working children. In Bangladesh children are found working in almost all sectors of the economy. Many of them work 48 hours a week on an average, earning less than Tk. 500/- per month. A large number of children work in industries, which are dangerous and hazardous and lead to serious health consequences. They suffer significant growth deficits as compared to school children. They grow up shorter and lighter, and their body size continues to be smaller even in adulthood. Many of them work under conditions that leave them alarmingly vulnerable to chemical and biological hazards. Child workers tend to develop muscular, chest and abdominal pain, headaches, dizziness, respiratory infections, diarrhoea and worm infection. Child domestic workers are often found to be victims of verbal and sexual abuse, beating or punishment by starvation. Children, engaged in scavenging, rag-picking or marginal economic activities in the streets, are exposed to drugs, violence, and criminal activities, physical and sexual abuse. Children have the right to be children: "to be loved, cherished, educated, nourished and pampered as children when they are children." Worst still, many hundreds of children are trapped in forced labour, debt bondage, prostitution. The main reason for child labour is poverty, most important factor responsible for the prevalence of this malady. About 55 million people live below the poverty line in Bangladesh. Parents' perceptions greatly influence their children's participation in the labour force. The education system of the country in general does not provide the poor, disadvantaged children with any immediate prospects of better jobs or higher levels of income.
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