The government declares that there will be no child labour in Bangladesh by 2025, but how this will be achieved is still a mystery.
Some 35,40,000 children between the ages of 5 and 17 are employed as labourers at the moment in Bangladesh.
According to a survey carried out by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 38,008 children in Bangladesh, ranging in age from 5 to 17, are employed in a variety of hazardous industries.
The BBS unveiled its National Child Labour Survey 2023 on Thursday at its auditorium in the capital. According to the National Child Labour Survey 2022, there have been 1.77 million more child labourers in Bangladesh over the previous ten years, an increase of 4.54 per cent.
As stated by State Minister of Planning Md. Shahiduzzaman Sarker, the Chief Guest, the government hopes to end child labour by 2025. In response to a query regarding how it could achieve, he stated that while there are currently no concrete suggestions for its eradication, the BBS statistics provide important insights, information, and data that are essential for formulating and carrying out policy in this area.
Concerned activists and researchers argue that the government has made numerous announcements and plans to lessen child labour, but no real progress has been made.
Sources said the term ‘child’ in the Bangladesh Labor Act of 2006 refers to an individual who has not reached the age of 14. "Teenagers" are defined as those who are in the 14–18 age range.
The National Child Labor Elimination Policy of 2010 states that hiring children for hazardous or formal jobs is prohibited.
Conditional appointments for light work can be made for children and adolescents who have a certificate of competence from a specialist physician.
However, the government is still unable to pinpoint the exact number of kids and teenagers working today. Therefore, it is not surprising that the pertinent law or policy was retained in the book.
According to the results of the 2013 National Child Labor Survey by BBS, which was completed on January 1, 2016, there were 34,50,000 working children in Bangladesh.
However, according to the Bangladesh Council and the Labor Rights Journalists Forum (ITUC), there were 47,00 000 child labourers in 2022. So, after a decade, the child labour situation remains the same, somehow worsening further.
Educationist and social activist Rasheda K. Choudhury told Bangladesh Post that, of course, there is a direct correlation between the prevalence of child labour and poverty.
In this instance, parents' ignorance and insensitivity are unquestionably to blame.
She further said that Kishore gangs are a recent annoyance. Compared to children from the middle class, children from the poor are more likely to be involved. This represents the opposing viewpoint regarding child labour.
BBS unveils National Child Labour Survey 2023
Over 35 lakh child labourers in the country
If there is child labour, there will be criminalisation of children. Adolescents and kids are using drugs and selling them at the same time. It is indisputable that the emergence of these issues is a result of the lack of adequate programs to guarantee children’s and adolescents’ basic needs, including food, shelter, education, and cultural development.
In addition, growing levels of political corruption are exacerbating the problems.
This child labour survey from 2023 indicates that 97.5% of these children are male.
Although 43 sectors have been officially designated as hazardous by the Bangladeshi government, the BBS decided to concentrate on five important sectors for this survey after consulting with relevant parties.
These industries were chosen because of the high rate of child labour in them and the pressing need for reform.
The industries include the following: the drying and processing of fish, crab, and shellfish; the manufacturing of shoes, particularly in the leather shoe industry; the casting of iron and steel; the maintenance and repair of automobiles, mostly in auto workshops; and the repair of personal and household goods, including the informal and local tailoring and garment industries.
With 24,923 children employed in the automotive workshop industry overall, the survey’s results show that this industry employs the greatest number of child labourers.
The children employed in the leather shoe industry number 5,281, those in the welding or gas burner mechanic industry number 4,099, those in the informal and local tailoring or garment sectors number 2,805, and those producing dried fish number 898.
Around 35.7% of child labourers are located in rural areas, whereas 64.3% are located in urban areas. Approximately 8.1% of boys and 0.3% of girls work at great heights or from the floor, while 19.1% of boys and 7.7% of girls are involved in carrying heavy loads or pulling goods, according to the survey.
This national estimate was conducted by the Bureau of Bureaucracy and Statistics (BBS) in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) to evaluate the state of child labour in these five hazardous sectors. The period of data collection was June 3, 2023–June 14, 2023.
Speakers focus on the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labor Convention, 1930 (No. 29), on January 20, 2022, and the ILO's Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), on March 22, 2022. In December 2021, the government also approved an updated National Plan of Action to End Child Labor 2021–25.
The survey findings launching ceremony was presided over by BBS Director General Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, with Guest of Honour Deputy High Commissioner and Development Director of British High Commission Matt Carnell, ILO Country Director Tuomo Poutianen, and Special Guest Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary Dr Shahnaz Arefin, among others, in attendance.