Child Labor situation in Bangladesh

Child Labor situation in Bangladesh
If we want to know about the Child Labor situation in Bangladesh, at first we have to know that what Child Labor is. The definition of child labor varies depending on region, culture, organization, and government. Although there is no universal definition for child labor, various organizations have defined it and described its parameters.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) defines child labor as any activity that affects a child's health and education. UNICEF also states that child labor is work that leads to deprivation of childhood activities, exploitation and abuse (Wikipedia, 2014).
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics considers children aged 5-14 who work for one or more hours (per week) in both paid and unpaid settings to be child workers. For children older than 10, any economic activity is considered a form a child labor. This includes work both inside and outside of the household setting (Wikipedia, 2014).
Child Labor in Bangladesh Bangladesh is populous country. Most of the people live under the poverty line. Many people migrating to cities in search of works. They live extreme poverty and the positions of their children are even worse. Specially, a huge number of children is working and staying on the roadside. In Bangladesh, many families depend on the income earned by their children for struggling, so child labor is often highly valuable. Later, employers often like to employ children because they are cheaper and regarded to be more compliant and obedient than adults. When children are compelled to work, they are often abandoned their rights to education, entertainment, leisure and play.
According to rights activists, child labour is flourishing day by day in Bangladesh. Around two third of working middle-class people employs children as domestic chores. The children are made to do household tasks such as cooking, washing, cleaning, and ironing, and even care for other children. They are often not paid, but work for lodging, food and old clothes (Dhaka Tribune, 2013).
There has been no survey on the number of child domestic workers in our country since 2006. In 2006, an ILO baseline survey found about 3.2 million child laborers in Bangladesh. Among them, 421,000 were appointed in domestic chores, and 75 percent were girls, who were particularly vulnerable as they worked behind closed doors (Dhaka Tribune, 2013).
Causes of Child Labor in Bangladesh
Poverty is the single most important factor accountable for the prevalence of child labour in the country. About 55 million people live below the poverty line in Bangladesh. Poor households badly require the money that their children earn. They generally contribute around 20-25 percent of their family income. Since poor households spend the maximum of their income on food, the earnings of working children are critical to their survival.
The education system of the country in general does not provide poor, disadvantaged children with any constant sides of better jobs or higher levels of earning. Naturally, poor parents fail to understand the long-term value of education, and become interested for the short-term economic gains of child labour. Even though since January 1993, the government started the Compulsory Primary Education Program all over the country, education remains very costly for a poor family. In some areas of the country the consumption on primary level students represents one-third of the total income of a typical poor family, though most families have more than one child of the school-going age. Many children are, therefore, compelled to work to pay for their own education.
Initiatives to prevent Child Labor
Child labor is a long-term development problem that will not be resolved with short-term activities. A great deal of work remains to be done to respond in an effective manner to the child labor problem and its root causes. Population control and extensive education program in rural and urban areas will undoubtedly help in this process. Some other ideas are social awareness against child labour, media intervention, reforming laws, and banning child labour. Government should develop public and political awareness and commitment on child labor to prevent it. Government also should reform the laws and implement them strictly. NGOs should have to increase their activities on child labor and to continue their activities the help of Government is must.
Child labour is a complicated global issue. In spite of restrictions, it exists in almost every country. The appearance of child labour has become a serious problem in the world. The number of child workers worldwide has dropped by a third over the past 13 years, according to a report from the International Labour Organization. But campaigners say that protecting children from hazardous work and long hours remains a major challenge, with families in poor countries such as Bangladesh heavily reliant on the income they get from sending children to work.
Referrence:
Wikipedia. 2014. Child Labor in Bangladesh. Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, Accessed on November 15, 2014, Retrieved from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labour_in_Bangladesh]
Wikipedia. 2014. Child Labor. Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, Accessed on November 15, 2014, Retrieved from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labour]
Islam, Udaisa. 2013. Child domestic workers increasing in Bangladesh. Dhaka Tribune, Accessed on November 15, 2014, Retrieved from [http://www.dhakatribune.com/labour/2013/jun/12/child-domestic-workers-increasing-bangladesh]