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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

58 Bangladesh Education Journal2. Basic Education for Hard to Reach Urban Working Children (BEHTRUWC)UNICEF has partnered with the Bureau of Non-Formal Education on a relatively large NFEprogram for urban working children who are out of school, with the intention ofmainstreaming the NFE graduates into primary education (UNICEF, undated). The firstphase was from 1997-2004, in which 346,000 children aged 8-14 were targeted in the sixdivisional cities to undertake a two-year course to reach an equivalency of grade 3, whilstthey continued to work. 50% of the participants were girls. 1,000 of BEHTRUWC graduatesof 12-14 years were then provided with livelihood skills such as a trade and the rest werehelped with self-employment, job placement and follow up for the first six months.However, there were criticisms of the first phase in that it was a top-down approach,improper selection of NGO took place and there was a focus on numbers rather than quality(Associates for Development Sevices Limited, 2006a). Moreover, as noted in the previoussection, the design did not incorporate the lessons from non-formal primary educationprograms of NGOs, provided for a two-year basic education course instead of fullequivalency of primary education, and did not provide sufficient social and economicsupport to put the highly vulnerable children on a course of self-sufficiency.The second phase (2004-2011) of the project provides a 40 months life-skills based basiceducation to 200,000 urban working children aged 10-14 years through 8000 learningcentres in the six divisional cities. An estimated 20,000 of the 200,000 working children willacquire livelihood skills. Whilst mid-term evaluations of the second phase have yet to beimdertaken, it is possible that similar criticisms may emerge for Phase II as for Phase I.Furthermore, it is unclear as to what efforts are being made on the BEHTRUWC program toput the graduates into mainstream primary education and how successful they may be.3. Other actors/programs in the fieldThere are a number of actors, including NGOs (local, national, international), private sector,and trade unions, who are undertaking small-scale programs or actions which will help tocombat child labour and ensure access to good quality NFE programs. However, the lack ofdocumentation or knowledge sharing between these different actors makes it difficult toassess the impact of these programs. It also may mean that programs are small scale, and areisolated and fragmented interventions. Nonetheless, some of the small-scale programs havebeen very successful in awareness raising, mobilizing their target population and in beingquite creative in the design of their programs. A few are described below.a. ILO Preventing and Eliminating Selected Worst Forms of Child Labour in theUrban Informal Economy of Dhaka City launched in 2001 was a four-yearprogramme aimed at removing 24,000 children from hazardous work in the urbaninformal sector and preventing children from entering the labour market throughadvocacy and awareness raising; creation of viable alternative for 10,000 families andworkplace monitoring. These services were delivered through 85 multipurpose centres,2 vocational training centres and through strategic partnerships with other public andprivate service providers.
Bangladesh Education Journal 59b. Bangladesh Institute of Labour Study or BILS runs a Hazardous Child LabourProject funded by the Council of Denmark. The project is running three non-formaleducational centres and technical training service for child workers aged 12-14, inGazipur, Keranigonj, Mirpur and Tongi. Child workers are provided with basiceducation, vocational training and awareness training on their rights before they enterthe labour market. The project also runs a Primary Health Care Service for trainees andstudents as well as a Motor Mechanic Workshop for intensive training on the trade to thegraduates of the centre.c. Child Labour Elimination Action Network or CLEAN is a regional network of 23NGOs funded by Manusher Jonno Foundation which was launched in 2003 to eliminatehazardous child work in 8 districts such as the stone field at Tetulia under Panchagarhdistrict. CLEAN engage in sharing information, mobilizing local actors and liaisingwith local government in helping to identify and eliminate hazardous child work.d. Joint Child Labour Working Group or JCLWG formed in 1999 comprised of ILO,UNICEF, Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Save theChildren Alliance and Centre for Mass Education in Science. The JCLWG aims forbetter co-ordination and synergies amongst different child labour programme throughknowledge sharing which include lessons learnt from various activities undertaken bygroup members. The JCLWG have also been working closely with government on theeffective implementation of the national TBP, within the framework of the ILOconvention.The initiatives mentioned are not an exhaustive account. They represent the types of effortsundertaken to address the problems of child labour including WFCL. They complement andsupplement the measures needed to expand and improve effective access and participation ofthe vulnerable groups in the main stream basic general education system as well as new andexpanded opportunities for relevant vocational and occupational education and training.VI. Conclusions and RecommendationsChild labour and education are inextricably linked. Child labour impacts on the enrollmentrates, dropout and transition rates at the primary and secondary education level.Concomitantly, an inaccessible and low-quality educational system increases the incidenceof child labour and thereby causes an even poorer quality of life for the most vulnerable insociety.The decline in child labour rates and the increase in Gross Enrollment Rates and NetEnrollment Rates over the last 10 years or so have been promising. The work that has beendone by key stakeholders such as the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ministry ofPrimary and Mass Education and other relevant ministries, ILO-IPEC, UNICEF, UNESCO,Schools, NGOS, and Private Sector has shown positive results in awareness-raising, socialmobilization, strengthening institutional capacity and commitment to moving towards thetwin goal of eliminating child labour and achieving education for all.
Page 5: Bangladesh Education Journal 45Fig.
Page 10: 50 Bangladesh Education Journal3. D
Page 13 and 14: Bangladesh Education Journal 53educ
Page 15 and 16: Bangladesh Education Journal 55The
Page 17: Bangladesh Education Journal 57abou
Page 21 and 22: Bangladesh Education Journal 61Role
Page 23: Bangladesh Education Journal 63Rava

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?