Child Labour in Bangladesh
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| Some Children Working in a Factory |
In Bangladesh a lot of children from age 5 years to 14 years work for their living. In many households, after the death or departure of the adult earning member from the family. the eldest boy has to earn. There are some households in which the father does not want to educate his male child on order to make him work for some earning. As a result. many boys, as well as girls, in our country have to work for livelihood. According to the Labour Force Survey 1985-86, BBS, 27,35,000 children between the age group 5-14 years, have to work for a living. Of them 17,59,000 work in the agriculture sector and 9.76,000 work in the non-agriculture sectors. Of the total child labour force, 34,000 are in the age group 5 to 9 years and 27,01,000 are 10-14 years old. The number of total male child labourers is 21,70,000. The number of total female child labourers is 5,65,000. The payment pattern related to this vast child labour force is very shocking. 12,44,000 child labourers work as unpaid family helpers. Of these unpaid children 6000 (1,000 male + 5,000 female) age aged 5 to 9 years and the rest aged 10 to 14 years. Of all the unpaid child labourers 1,13.000 are female and the rest, that is11,31,000, are male. Most of the time the unpaid child labourers are tortured in various ways. Those who are paid are tortured mentally as well as physically. The government has clear-cut laws about this issue, but legal actions are rarely taken. Those children who work as laboure'rs are deprived of their right to get education, justice, and security.
