Lost in the gutter
Photo: Shafiqul Islam Kajol / Driknews
Every morning while going to school I see children of my age collecting garbage from the big garbage cans. While my morning starts with a healthy breakfast, their morning starts with collecting garbage. This crude reality makes me very sad when I imagine their lives in poverty. People are totally indifferent to child labour although the government has enacted certain laws regarding child labour. I also found out that the child labours are paid a meagre amount of money for their work only because they are children! What are the authorities doing? In The Daily Star and many other dailies I read how the DoE fines factories for pollution and grabbing and how BSTI penalizes eateries for unhygienic food etc but I have never heard or read that any balloon factory or brick factory has been penalized for letting children work there. According to UNICEF, there are 7.4 million working children in Bangladesh, but the authorities concerned are oblivious about the matter! In the children's day I see hypocrites talking big about child rights and the next day everyone forgets about these children! I urge the authorities concerned to take actions like setting up mobile courts to save the child labourers or do at least something so that these children can get out of this nightmare. We should remember that every child is special and that children are the future of the country. If no action is taken we are sure to face a bleak future.
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