Child Labour and Education in Bangladesh - Bangladesh Online ...

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56 Bangladesh Education JournalBGMEA/UNICEF/ILO project in the garments industry in Bangladesh. The BGMEAinitiative withdrew all child workers below the age of 14 years from 2,000 garment factories,provided them with education and a monthly stipend of about US$7. However, initiativeslike this are not taking place in the informal sector where most child workers are workinglong hours and in hazardous working conditions.Child labour exists because most employers are willing to exploit children and the cheap,docile, unskilled labour that they offer. By employing children on very low wages,employers are able to maximize their profits (Majumdar, 2001). Among child workers inBangladesh, 82 % do not get the same wage rate as adults (BBS, 2003). Offering childrenjobs that adults should have creates adult unemployment and underemployment. There is acollusion of interest between employers and parents who are forced to or willing to rely ontheir children to supplement family income. According to the baseline survey produced onhazardous child labour sectors (BBS, 2005), some of the major reasons given by employersfor employing children in hazardous activities was that parents requested them to employtheir child (39%) and because they could pay the minimum wage (22.5%).Most of the employers (55%) in the hazardous child labour sectors are aware of the legalprohibition to employing child workers. They violate the laws because there is weakmonitoring of child workers and system of enforcement of laws in both formal and theinformal sectors.4. Perception regarding schooling in the communityThe construct of childhood varies from one country, culture and context to the other. Khair(2005) writes that work is often regarded as a fundamental part of the socialization processwhere family values and traditional skills are often transmitted from one generation to theother. This is particularly the case in rural and agricultural areas where sons are expected totake ownership of their land and are expected to acquire practical skills in agriculture andfarming. School is therefore seen to be of little merit especially when it does not teachpractical subjects such as agricultural science (Sodev Consult, 2006b). The same could alsobe said for girls who are expected to take over household duties or responsibilities once theygot older or married. Hence, school may not be seen to be the place to prepare children fortheir future roles in adult life.Social mobility is not a dominant feature in Bangladesh society. The poor are expected to bein service of the rich and little is expected from them in terms of skills or knowledge. It isnormal to employ poor children in work because society has few expectations of them foradvancing to better opportunities. This mindset becomes internalized by poor peoplethemselves, who have seen little progress or mobility in their lives. That is why employingChild Domestic Workers is perceived to be ‘normal’ (UNICEF, Undated).The perception of social origin being social destiny is a mindset that has become embeddedin society and is slow to change. The change can come only through increased awareness
Bangladesh Education Journal 57about child rights, detrimental consequences of child labour and the positive externalities ofeducation for all.5. Perception regarding education for females, indigenous and disabled childrenThe most vulnerable child populations in Bangladesh are those who are poor and female,poor and indigenous and poor and with special needs. They face a ‘double disadvantage’ ofbeing poor as well as being from a marginalize section of the population. These three groupsface severe disadvantages in education because their needs are often neglected and oftencurriculum, school infrastructure, learning materials and teachers exclude them from theeducational process. In a study that examined the lives of a sample population of girls withdisabilities, 64% of girls dropped out of education and 34% reported being unsupported intheir educational environments (Anam, 2002). Educational programs for children withdisabilities are fragmented and inadequate (World Bank, 2004; UNICEF, 2003). There areonly 13 government supported schools for children with visual, auditory and mild tomoderate intellectual disabilities to serve an approximate total population with such specialneeds numbering 7.7 million (Ackerman, Thormann and Huq, 2005).Poor parents who are interested in enhancing their earning perceive little economic benefitsand high opportunity costs in educating children falling in any one of these three groups,because school, curriculum and teachers are not sensitized to their needs. Hence, childlabour becomes a “lesser evil” alternative for these parents to an inaccessible and low qualityeducation.V. Specific Project Interventions to Address Child LabourApart from the overall effort to make the general basic education system more inclusive andresponsive, a number of specific interventions to address the problem of child labour andchildren in hazardous child labour have been undertaken.1. Time-bound programs (TBP)Following the ratification by Bangladesh of the ILO Worst Forms of Child LabourConvention No.182, ILO-IPEC, UNICEF and Asian Development Bank came forward in2004 to assist the government in formulating a ‘Time-Bound Programme’ to address theWFCL as a matter of urgency. TBP would offer Bangladesh a comprehensive framework forachieving measurable and timely set of interventions in eliminating WFCL (ILO, 2006).The interventions would consist of prevention, withdrawal, rehabilitation and protectionmeasures, which can be scaled up. The preparatory phase of TBP was launched in March2004. In line with the aims of the preparatory phase, ILO-IPEC strengthened the knowledgebase on the WFCL, raised awareness amongst key stakeholders, built consensus andcommitment for various actions against WFCL and developed the national framework forthe TBP. The preparatory phase ended in 2006, However, TBP has yet to be implemented byMinistry of Labour and Employment (MOLE). MOLE has yet to finalize the National Policyon Child Labour, which would be the policy underpinning of the TBP.
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