Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices and Expectations … · Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices and...

Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices and

Expectations (KAPE) Study on Child Labor

in Bangladesh

Table of Contents

1.0 TABLE OF CONTENT………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….2

2. 0 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................ 4

3.0 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: ............................................................................................................ 5

4.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................... 5

5.0 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 8

5.1 Background & Rationale of the Study ................................................................................... 8

5.2 Objectives of the Study ......................................................................................................... 9

6.0 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY .............................................................................................. 10

6.1 Study Approach ................................................................................................................... 10

6.2 Respondent groups of the Study......................................................................................... 11

6.3 Sample Size covered ............................................................................................................ 11

7.0 CONCEPTUAL REFERENCES FOR THE STUDY .......................................................................... 13

7.1 Child Labor .......................................................................................................................... 13

7.2 Working children ................................................................................................................. 14

7.3 Out-of-school children ........................................................................................................ 15

7.4 Definitions of knowledge, attitude and practice ................................................................ 15

8.0 STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT ................................................................................................... 18

9.0 DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS .................................... 19

9.1 Child laborers ...................................................................................................................... 19

9.2 Non-child laborers ............................................................................................................... 19

9.3 Employers of child laborers ................................................................................................. 19

9.4 Caretakers ........................................................................................................................... 20

10.0 KNOWLEDGE REGARDING CHILD RIGHTS, EDUCATION, CHILD LABOR AND CHILD ABUSE .. 21

10.1 Awareness regarding the definition of a Child:................................................................. 21

10.2 Awareness about the minimum age of employment in Bangladesh: ............................... 22

10.3 Awareness about primary education being compulsory and free for all children aged 5-14 years in Bangladesh................................................................................................................... 26

10.4 Awareness about ‘child labor’ and relevant activities that constitute child labor ........... 28

10.5 Awareness about different rules and legislations pertaining to employing children ....... 32

10.6 Awareness about the impact of child labor on children ................................................... 35

10.7 Awareness about the importance of school and education in children’s life .................. 38

10.8 Employer’s awareness about Child Labor and the Rules/Legislations pertaining to eliminating Child Labor ............................................................................................................. 40

10.9 Employer’s awareness about the types of industries/activities that employ children aged less than 14 years in risky/hazardous form of work ................................................................. 41

11.0 ATTITUDE TOWARDS CHILD RIGHTS, EDUCATION CHILD LABOR .......................................... 43

11.1 Perception on the importance of education in children’s life .......................................... 43

11.2 Reasons why children work .............................................................................................. 46

11.3 Acceptable hours of working for children ......................................................................... 48

11.4 Perception regarding schools and educational facilities in the community ..................... 49

11.5 Attitude towards children being involved in laborious task at a young age ..................... 50

11.6 Attitude towards the health repercussions of children involved in child labor ............... 52

11.7 Attitude towards receiving free education facilities for children ..................................... 53

11.8 Acceptance of child labor as a legalized form of labor ..................................................... 55

11.9 Employer’s attitude towards employment of children ..................................................... 56

12.0 PRACTICES PERTAINING EMPLOYMENT OF CHILD LABORERS, EDUCATION AND CHILD RIGHTS ........................................................................................................................................... 59

12.1 Practices of employers regarding involving children in work ........................................... 59

12.2 Willingness to participate in employment by non-child laborers and willingness to allow participation of these children by their parents/guardians ...................................................... 60

12.3 Types of work in which child laborers are presently engaged in: ..................................... 60

12.4 Practices of checking work environment before children are sent to work ..................... 63

12.5 Nature of work, work environment, and facilities provided to the child laborers: .......... 64

12.6 Facilities desired by non-child laborers from their employers if they wish to be involved in work in the future ................................................................................................................. 68

12.7 Facilities provided by caretakers through drop-in centers ............................................... 68

12.8 Practices of caretakers of visiting child laborer’s working place ...................................... 70

12.9 Practices of parents/guardians in considering alternatives to employment of children in work .......................................................................................................................................... 71

12.10 Practices of different target segments in dealing with Child Abuse ............................... 73

12.11 Physical problems faced by Child laborers due to working ............................................ 74

13.0 EXPECTATIONS FROM THE SOCIETY REGARDING CHILDREN, THEIR EDUCATION AND OCCUPATION ................................................................................................................................. 76

13.1 Child laborers and non-child laborer’s expectations from the society ............................. 76

13.2 Expectations of parents of child laborers and non-child laborers, and Care-takers......... 78

13.3 Employer’s expectations from the society and the government ...................................... 84

13.4 Expectation from the government and other authorities with regards to eliminating child labor from the society ............................................................................................................... 86

14.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ............................................................................... 90

ANNEXURE 1: DATA TABLE FOR SECTION – 9.1 ....................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.



ANNEXURE 4: DATA TABLE FOR SECTION – 10 ........................ ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.




2. 0 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

DCIs Data Collection Instruments FGDs Focus Group Discussions GoB Government of Bangladesh IEC Information Education Communication ILO International Labor Organization IPEC International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labor IGAs Income Generating Activities KAPE Knowledge, Attitude, Practices, Expectations KII Key Informant Interview NGO Non-Governmental Organizations OVCs Orphans and Vulnerable Children UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund BCO Bangladesh Central Office HCL Hazardous Child Labor WFCL Worst Forms of Child Labor HH House Hold BDT Bangladeshi Taka UCEP Unprivileged Children’s Educational Program TV Television Govt. Government

3.0 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The report was produced with participation from many individuals who include children,

parents, teachers, religious leaders, social workers, opinion leaders, employers, care

givers and government officials responded and attended interviews and focus group

discussions. Invaluable guidance and contributions from many individuals both form

inside and outside UNICEF enriched the report.

Thanks to the members of the KAPE Study Follow up Group who include Dr. Nomita

Halder and Dr. Aminul Islam of Empowerment and Protection of Children Project,

Ministry of Women and Children Affairs; Md Omar Faruque and Salma Yeasmin of

Protection of Children at Risk Project, Ministry of Social Welfare; Sharfuddin Khan of

ILO Bangladesh; Abdul Latif of Ministry of Labour and Employment; Mostafizur

Rahman Evan of Aparajayo Bangladesh; and Umme Salma of Dustha Sashtha Kemdra.

Researchers and consultant of MRC-Mode Limited Shifat E Mansuor, Shireen Abedin

and Dr. Jamal Uddin really worked hard to accommodate critical comments from the

KAPE Study Follow up Group. The field workers of the research agency also worked

behind the screen.

The thought process behind the KAPE Study was generated by Rose-Anne Papavero and

Patricia Portela De Souza of UNICEF. Christino De Agostini, Md. Shafiqul Islam and

Yuko Osawa put forward comments to enrich the report; while Mohammad Badrul

Hassan of UNICEF steered the whole process starting from the inception to finalization

of the study.

4.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The KAPE (Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, and Expectations) study has been undertaken to assess the current knowledge, attitudes, and behavior towards child labor and the expectations of the target audiences, and develop a baseline to assess the effectiveness of interventions to be taken and recommend what needs to be done in order to change the existing social norms in Bangladesh. The KAPE study has used standard quantitative and qualitative tools and techniques for data collection. The study initiated with secondary information review on relevant topics. The field data collection was carried out through One-on-One Interviews, Focus Group Discussion and Key Informants Interview (KII). Three levels of respondents were included for the study classified into three stages: primary, secondary and tertiary. Most of the parents/guardians across both child-laborer and non-laborer groups did not consider people aged between 15-18 years as children. This implies that children aged 15-18 years are eventually most at risk of being employed in hazardous or risky work, since they are deemed to be grown-ups by their parents/guardians. Hence, there is a high misconception about childhood and lack of knowledge on child labor. Awareness about the laws and legislation regarding compulsory primary education was quite poor amongst parents/guardians of children who are child-laborers, children who are child-laborers and employers of child laborers. Only 4% of the parents and guardians are aware of the laws related to child labor, whilst only 17% of the employers are aware of the same. Less than 25% of the employers could mention any articles relevant to child labor, whilst less than 20% were aware about the ‘Child Labor Elimination Policy’. Poor awareness level amongst these groups of people can be associated with their practice of employing children in different activities that fall under the jurisdiction of child-labor. Although majority of the parents and guardians agree that ‘school is the best place for children to work’, they also believe that education is an expensive undertaking that they can ill-afford for their children and thus, prefer that their children worked rather than study. On probing further, it was seen that the parents/guardians would be willing to let their children study only if they were also involved in money-earning activities. Moreover, the employers of child laborers were found to have high propensity to hire children as they found them to be a cheap and submissive form of labor. Child laborers’ major portion of earnings is contributed towards family sustenance. Due to the severity of the financial crisis in their family, the parents/guardians are unable and often unwilling to provide education to their children. With the regards to the prohibition on hiring children as labor, it was found that most of the employers were unaware of it, and a large portion were employing children in hazardous work. Caretakers were aware regarding the legal rules and regulations and mainly involved in

providing required facilities (such as accommodation, medical, etc) to the working children who came to them seeking assistance. Majority of the child-laborers also expressed that they find the work they do, to be highly tedious and stressful, and as such wish to quit their jobs (which is an option unavailable to them due to poverty). With regards to expectations, the parents/guardians stated that they expected financial support and assistance from the government to ensure education for their children. They also mentioned expectations of safer working environments for the child-laborers from the employers. From their children, parents/guardians expect a more prudent and honest living. Many of the parents of child laborers expressed their hopes that their children will not follow them into their line of profession. Children’s expectations from employers and mainly revolved around an opportunity for free education and better job facilities. As expected, the employers stated that they would want to be allowed to continue with their current practices and no legal recourse should be taken against any employer; they further mentioned that they would expect the government to provide assistance for ensuring safe working environment for the child laborers. Findings of this study show that children are expected to work so as to contribute to family socio-economic welfare and/or for their own benefit. The perception of children being easy to employ still prevails amongst employers. Respondents placed the role of government high in enhancing people’s welfare but also acknowledge the important contribution families can make since children immediately belong to families. Given that poverty is one of the critical challenges families face in the upbringing of children, complementary efforts to strengthen the family’s socio-economic capacity to be able to play their roles would yield good results if such efforts are well targeted. Generally, more effort needs to be put in prevention of entry of children into child labor.

5.0 INTRODUCTION

The term “child labor” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.

It refers to work that:

is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and interferes with their schooling by: depriving them of the opportunity to attend

school; obliging them to leave school prematurely; or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

In its most extreme forms, child labor involves children being enslaved, separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses and/or left to fend for themselves on the streets of large cities – often at a very early age. Whether or not particular forms of “work” can be called “child labor” depends on the child’s age, the type and hours of work performed, the conditions under which it is performed and the objectives pursued by individual countries. The answer varies from country to country, as well as among sectors within countries. In Bangladesh, according to The Labor Act 2006, the definition of a ‘child’ and an ‘adolescent’ is based on age: this law states that any person who has not yet completed 14 years of age is considered to be a child, and any person who has completed 14 years of age but has not completed 18 years of age is considered to be an adolescent.

5.1 Background & Rationale of the Study Government has prohibited child labor for the children below 14 according to the Bangladesh Labor Law 2006 and adopted the National Child Labor Elimination Policy 2010 with a view to withdraw children from hazardous and worst form of labor. The policy is aimed to support families to break the vicious cycle of poverty so that children remain out of labor; scholarships are available for working children to continue education; and so on. The recently approved National Education Policy declared compulsory primary education up to grade VIII.

However, non adherence to the existing legislations and policies and also wide-scale acceptance of child labor in Bangladesh hampers the realization of the rights of Bangladesh children. Therefore, this is the right time to launch and continue extensive campaign(s) against child labor in Bangladesh. Hence, to face the above mentioned challenge(s) the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, UNICEF and ILO have jointly started a communication campaign against child labor on June 11, 2010. This campaign aims at initiating debates on the current practices in Bangladesh. Its main slogan is:

‘School is the best place for children to work’. The main objectives of the communication campaign are to raise awareness against child labor amongst the general public; ensuring fulfillment of children’s basic right to education and migration from child labor to a safe working environment for children.

However, there is limited study in the country on what people know about child labor, how they feel about it and demonstrate their knowledge and attitudes through their actions. The KAPE (Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices, and Expectations) study will support to understand the current knowledge on, attitudes towards, behavior towards child labor(ers) and the expectations of the target audiences, and provide a base line to assess the effectiveness of interventions to be undertaken and recommend what needs to be done in order to change the existing social norms in Bangladesh. Furthermore, as this KAPE study on child labor is the first of its kind with nationally representative samples in Bangladesh, this will create baseline knowledge, attitude, and practice on child labor and help programmers to design, implement, and evaluate initiatives designed to eliminate child labor.

5.2 Objectives of the Study The main objective of the study is to understand the knowledge, attitude and practice with respect to child labor issues amongst Bangladesh society and the expectations that the target audiences have with regards to child rights and child labor.

The Specific Objectives is outlined as follows:

i) Assess levels of knowledge of different respondents on child labor in Bangladesh;

ii) Assess and evaluate people’s attitudes or feelings towards child labor, as well as perceptions they harbor on the issue;

iii) Observe/Gauge, evaluate and assess the ways in which the various respondents demonstrate their knowledge, attitudes and perceptions through their actions and behavior;

iv) Assess expectations of respondent groups with regards to assistance from the government and other organizations for themselves and the children;

v) Attempt to understand the main causes of children being involved in child labor, and/or why they are out of school;

vi) Identify and highlight the factors contributing to levels of knowledge and attitudes and practices for both positive and negative indicators;

vii) Develop an understanding with respect to the expectations of respondent groups on the issues of child labor and out-of-school children

viii) Gauge and analyze respondents’ recommendations for alternatives to child labor.

6.0 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

6.1 Study Approach The KAPE study has used standard quantitative and qualitative tools and techniques for data collection. Following is a brief discussion on the type of tools used for collecting the information.

a) Secondary information review: Broadly speaking, the KAPE study commenced with a literature review. All relevant program documents and available documents on child labor as well as child right issues were studied, so as to have an increased understanding of the subject matter.

b) One-on-One Interviews: The major informational requirements of the study- i.e. a comprehensive understanding on the KAPE of target groups- has been fulfilled by a quantitative survey that has been carried out with samples selected from the target population in the intervention and control areas. Thus, standard semi-structured questionnaires have been used for the one-to-one surveys, which have been used to collect quantitative information regarding the KAPE of the target primary respondent groups. The one-on-one interviews have been conducted with child laborers and their parents/guardians; children (non-child laborers) and their parents/guardians; care-givers; and employers of child laborers.

c) Focus Group Discussion: For collecting qualitative information to complement our quantitative survey findings as well as better visualize the ‘how’s and ‘why’s behind those findings, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) has been used for the secondary respondent group. i.e., Community influential, civil society, media, NGOs, private sector, local government, formal and informal employers (who do not employ child laborers) and trade union activists;

d) Key Informants Interview (KII): KII is an in-depth interview directed towards individuals considered to have the most essential information relevant to the subject matter in hand. For this study, the tertiary respondent group has been administered with the KIIs, i.e., representatives from the Government, different organizations that are working with Child Rights issues, NGOs, academics etc.

The KAPE study focused on accessing information from various types and categories of respondents, who have been arranged in a categorical manner on the basis of importance of behaviors (with respect to child labor and rights) which are the primary focus of the programme. As such we have three levels of respondents, viz., primary, secondary and tertiary.

6.2 Respondent groups of the Study The Primary Respondent Group is composed of persons whose behaviors are the primary focus of programme and this includes (i) Children/Adolescents who are Child Laborers; (ii) Parents/Guardians of children/adolescents who are child laborers; (iii) Children/Adolescents who are not child laborers; (iv) Parents/guardians of children/ adolescents who are not child laborers; (v) Institutional care-takers/NGOs who provide welfare services to child laborers (Drop-in Centers/Open-air schools etc); and (vi) Employers of child laborers.

The Secondary Respondent Group consists of people who come from the cultural and social environment of the primary respondents and whose behavior or actions strongly influence the primary respondent's behavior. These individuals are members from NGOs, formal and informal employers (who do not employ child laborers), trade union activists, and religious/opinion leaders etc.

The Tertiary Respondent Group implies those individuals/bodies whose actions indirectly help or hinder the behaviors of the other respondents and this includes the Government (Ministries), Members of Parliament, Ward Councilors and also Academics (University Professors, Scholars etc who work in the relevant areas).

6.3 Sample Size covered A total of 3959 sample was covered for the quantitative survey which used Semi-structured questionnaires as the main tool of data collection. The distribution of the sample across the geographical areas covered is shown in Table: 8.7.1 below.

Table 8.7.1: Sample Size and Distribution per segment and geographical area

Segment Dhaka

City

Corp.

Chittagong

City Corp.

Bandarban Khulna Barisal City

Corp.

Barisal Chandpur

(Control

area)

Total

Child Laborers 114 177 60 118 180 61 118 828

Parents/guardians

of Child Laborers

114 177 60 118 180 61 118 828

Non-child

laborers

129 173 66 120 175 61 117 841

Parents/guardians

of non-child

laborers

129 173 66 120 175 61 117 841

Care-takers 5 10 0 5 10 5 35

Employers of

child laborers

84 103 63 84 100 66 86 586

Grand Total 3959

Apart from the above, 15 key informant’s interview with respondents from the tertiary

group and 9 focus group discussions with respondents from the secondary respondent

group has been conducted.

7.0 CONCEPTUAL REFERENCES FOR THE STUDY

7.1 Child Labor Child labor is defined in Bangladesh as1:

Age 5-11: any work

Age 12-14: any hazardous work or worst forms of child labor, or work for more than 14 hours a week.

Age 15-17: All children in hazardous work and any other worst forms of child labor, including excessive working hours.

There are two other relevant definitions for hazardous and worst forms of child labor2:

I. ‘Hazardous Child Labor’ or HCL- Includes any activity or occupation undertaken by a child between 5-17 that has, or leads to, adverse affects on the child’s safety, health (physical or mental) and moral development. Hazards can also be a result of excessive workload; physical conditions of work and/or work intensity in terms of the duration of hours of work even where the activity is known to be non-hazardous.

II. ‘Worst Forms of Child Labor’ or WFCL– As defined in the ILO Worst Forms of

Child Labor Convention (No. 182) includes activities undertaken by children aged 5-17 and is comprised of two different strands of work: conditional and unconditional WFCL:

Conditional WFCL - when children aged 5-17 work for more than 43 hours per week or in specified hazardous conditions. This is often referred to as “hazardous child labor”.

Unconditional WFCL - when children aged 5-17 are engaged in the following activities:

1 Sources: International Labor Organization (ILO), Convention concerning minimum age for admission to

employment (C138), 1976; ILO, Convention concerning the worst forms of child labor (C182), 1999; ILO

and BBS, Baseline Survey for Determining Hazardous Child Labor Sectors in Bangladesh, 2005.

2 Source of definition: Child Labor and Education in Bangladesh: Evidence and Policy Recommendations,

Joint study by UNICEF, ILO and UNESCO, 2008; and Report on National Child Labor Survey 2002-2003,

Bangladesh Bureau Statistics, December 2003.

all forms of slavery or practice similar to slavery such as sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage or serfdom and forced or compulsory labor, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict and other illicit activities

- procuring or offering a child for prostitution, for the production of

pornography or offering a child for pornographic performance

- procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, particularly for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in relevant international treaties.

7.2 Working children Globally accepted standards on working children in relation to their age and the conditions of work are presented in Table 8.1 below:

In reference to the above table there are two categories of working children in non-hazardous nature of work. All children involved in worst forms of labor are considered as child labor.

- Children within 12-17 years may involve in light work less than 14 hours a week - Children between 15-17 years may involve in regular work which will be less

than 43 hours a week.3

3 Source: Child Labor and Education in Bangladesh: Evidence and Policy Recommendations, Joint study

by UNICEF, ILO and UNESCO, 2008

7.3 Out-of-school children Children aged 6-14 years who are not attending school are considered as out-of-school children.

In Bangladesh According to the Compulsory Primary Education Act 1990, enrolment is compulsory at the age of 6. According to the recently approved education policy, primary education is compulsory up to grade VIII, which is until the age of 14.

7.4 Definitions of knowledge, attitude and practice

In this study Knowledge is possessed by respondents (children/adolescents who are child laborers, parents/guardians of the children, institutional care-takers/NGOs etc.) refer to their understanding of that topic.

Attitude refers to their feelings toward this subject, as well as any preconceived ideas they may have towards it.

Practice means the application of rules and knowledge that leads to action i.e it refers to the ways in which the respondents demonstrate their knowledge and attitudes through their actions.

The triad of knowledge, attitude, and practice in combination governs all aspects of life in human societies, and all three pillars together make up the dynamic system of life itself.

The indicators that have been used pertaining to Knowledge, Attitude, Practices and Expectations are as follows: i. Knowledge: Legal/policy related:

1. % of population knowledgeable on the minimum age of employment in Bangladesh according to the local laws/policies.

2. % of population knowledgeable on the fact that primary education is free and compulsory for all children according to the Bangladesh law and policy.

3. % of population knowledgeable on preconditions for employment of children above the age of 14

Child development related

1. % of population knows the definition of child as ‘every human being below the age of 18.’

2. % of population is aware of the importance of education (school) in terms of child’s physical, psychological, cognitive and social development

3. % of population is aware about the impact of child labor in their physical, cognitive and social development

Social protection related

1. % of the population aware of the places/institutions where they can seek support/guidance on child labor issues.

2. % of population who know what to do to denounce violations of child rights (child labor, exploitation, abuse) in Bangladesh.

3. % of population aware of that child labor is an impediment to poverty alleviation of the country

ii. Attitude: Legal/policy related

1. % of population considers that it is not necessary to ensure safe working environment for the working children

2. % of employers (formal and informal) who consider essential to provide a safe working environment for working children above

3. % of population expects that national laws/policy should allow child labor in Bangladesh.


1. % of population who consider education is important for the children's development but send their children to work and not to school.

2. % of population who consider education is important for the children's development but send their children to work and to school.

3. % of population thinks that child’s development will not hamper due to child labor


1. % of population did ever felt that they should react (discuss) or protest against child labor in any form to any authority (parents, employers or administrative or legal authority)

2. % of the population who expects that poor families should send their children to work

3. % of employers (formal and informal) considering that their profit margin will be decreased if there is no child labor

iii. Practice Legal/policy related

1. % of families with different earning groups (Please use concept of per capita poverty or consumption category) who send their children below the age of 14 to work

2. % of families with different earning groups (Please use concept of per capita poverty or consumption category) who sends their children above the age of 14 to work considering the working environment and scope for education and skills development

3. % of employers (formal and informal) who do not employ children below the age of 14


1. % of families considers the working environment before sending the child to work

2. % of families considers scope for education and skill development before sending the child to work

3. % of employers (formal and informal) who ensure a safe working environment (as defined), education and scope of skills development for the working children


1. % of families supports domestic workers to go to schools 2. % of population did ever complain to any authorities on issues of child labor in

Bangladesh 3. % of population expects that authorities (family, employer, administrative or

legal authorities) should take measures against child labor iv. Expectations

1. Expectations of parents/guardians from govt. and other policy making organizations about their children’s education

2. Expectations of parents/ guardians from employers regarding providing fair facilities and services and safe working environment

3. Expectation of parents/guardians from their children 4. Expectations of employers of child laborers from the govt. and other policy

makers about creating a safe working environment

8.0 STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT

The report is organized in a manner most congruent to the objectives of the study and presents findings pertaining to knowledge, attitude, practices and expectations under different headings. Qualitative finding relating to relevant indicators have been presented along with quantitative data wherever necessary and qualitative verbatim from respondents have been presented wherever applicable to provide the reader with the actual words used by respondents. Chapter: 9 provides a profiling of the target respondent groups, and delves into demographics and socio-economic situation of the families of children who are child laborer, and of children who are not child laborers. Chapter: 10 provides the findings pertaining to the knowledge and awareness amongst the target respondents about laws/legislation about Education , Child Labor and Child rights. Chapter: 11 provides findings pertaining to the attitude and behavior of target respondents towards children, child labor and child rights. Chapter: 12 provides findings pertaining to the practices of the target respondents associated with exercising child rights, employment of children and child abuse. Chapter: 13 provides findings pertaining to the expectations of the target respondents from the govt. and the society regarding receiving assistance/ help with children, child laborers, and employment. Chapter: 14 provides a conclusion and recommendation based on the findings from the previous sections. Annexure with data tables are presented at the end of the report for reference.

9.0 DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS

9.1 Child laborers The average number of members per household was 4.7, and 92% of the households had a total of 6 or less members. 43% of the HH members were male and 57% were female at an overall level. Amongst the household members aged 12 years or more, 55% were married and 42% were single or never married. On an average, 40% of the household members were between ages 5-18 years. Amongst these 40%, 32% were attending school in the current year. Most of these children who were attending school were in primary school level, and started education when they were 5 years old. The different activities that were carried out by the children from these households include performing household chores (cited by 23% of the parents/guardians), working in grocery stores (cited by 10% of the parents/guardians), working in garment factories (cited by 6% of the parents/guardians) etc. Amongst the child laborers interviewed for the study, 17% started working at the age of 12 years, whilst 16% at an age of 10 years. 53% of the parents of these child laborers had started working before they were 18 years old. The monthly income of these households was BDT 6555 on average, with monthly average expenditure per HH of BDT 6450. 57% of these household had outstanding loans/debts, mostly from NGOs (Micro-credit). Details are given in Annex: 1.

9.2 Non-child laborers The average number of members per household was 4.3 members. 98% of the households had a total of 6 members or less. 49% of the HH members were male and 51% were female at an overall level. On an average, 39% of the household members were between ages 5-18 years; and amongst them 97% were attending school in the current year. Most of these children who were attending school are in primary school level, and started education when they were 5 years old. The monthly income of these households was BDT 13,712 on average, with average monthly expenditure of BDT 11,877. 39% of these households have outstanding loans/debts, mostly from NGOs (Micro-credit). Details are given in Annex: 2.

9.3 Employers of child laborers

Mean age of the employers of child laborers was 35.4 years, and 44% of them have studied between classes 6-10. The nature of their occupation was diverse and included the following: 73% own businesses with 10 or less employees, 2% were in agriculture, 2% owns hotels, 1% owns Battery recharging units etc. 97% of the businesses/ventures run by these employers had 10 or fewer employees in total, and 98% of these employers have 5 or fewer employees aged less than 18 years. Details are given in Annex: 3.

9.4 Caretakers Care-takers for the study include caregivers (in case of children not having any parents alive or not staying with family), teachers (open-air schools), and benefactors or drop-in-center staff (people who are supporting children through providing accommodation/food/education etc).

10.0 KNOWLEDGE REGARDING CHILD RIGHTS, EDUCATION, CHILD

LABOR AND CHILD ABUSE

10.1 Awareness regarding the definition of a Child:

When probed as to the age to which an individual can be considered a ‘child’, parents of child laborers stated an average of 12.4 years which is the lowest when compared to 13.7 years mentioned by the parents of non-child laborers and 15 years mentioned by the care-takers.

Table 10.1.1: Age till which a human being is considered to be a

child

Areas Mean Age (in years)

Parents of

Child

Laborer

Parents of

Non-child

laborers

Care-takers

Urban 12.3 13.6 16.5

Rural 12.5 12.8 13.5

Control 14.5 13.8 14.2

All 12.4 13.7 15

According to the respondents from the tertiary participant group (the govt. and policy makers), the Bangladesh Constitution defines a person below the age of 16 as a child4. Children have the right to lead a happy and healthy life. Every child has the right to receive education, enjoying a safe life, to be protected from all kinds of discriminations, sexual exploitation etc. Principal of UCEP stated, “A child preserves the right to enjoy all the basic rights just like an adult, there shouldn’t be any discrimination against a child based on age.”

Respondents from the secondary participant group consisting of employers (who do not employ child laborers), religious leaders, NGO personnel, and trade union activists, also hold perceptions about the definition of a child that are quite similar to the perceptions held by the parents/guardians and care-takers. The employers from this group define children as toddlers and also as young children within the age range 1-5 years. NGO Personnel are quite informed about the actual definitions of ‘child’ and ‘adolescents’ as per the laws of the land. Details are portrayed in Figure: 10.1.1 below.

4 Although the statement provided by the Key Informants mentions Bangladesh Constitution as a reference

point for the definition of child, the correct reference for the definition of a child is The Labor Act, 2006.

“Generally, when

children aged 0-16

years give their labor

in exchange of some

food and for very little

money, it is called

child labor.”

Respondent from the

tertiary group

10.2 Awareness about the minimum age of employment in Bangladesh:

The awareness regarding the minimum age of employment was quite low amongst the child laborers (15%) and their parents (20%), when compared to non-child laborers (36%) and their parents (62%). This lack of awareness regarding the laws and legislations could be one of the reasons why parents are inclined in sending their children to work. Furthermore, the awareness regarding the above matter was lower amongst the female respondents from the parent/guardians of child laborers segment (12%) compared to the male respondents from the same segment (21%). 62% male and 59% female

Definition of a Child

Employers (who do not employ children)

Any person aged between 1-5 years;

A person with no knowledge about the world is a child;

Anyone aged between 0-18 years

Religious Leaders

Any person aged less than 18 years;

Any human under 12 years of age

Any person between 1-7 years;

Babies.

Trade Union Activists

Ages between 4-13;

Ages between 5-12;

Ages between 5-18 years.

NGO Personnel

Human less than 14 years of age;

15-18 year olds are adolescents, not

children.

Figure: 10.1.1 Secondary Participant group‟s view

on definition of a child

20 22

9

21

64

55

40

62

97 100 100 97

1419

815

34

42

2936

4037

4439

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Urban Rural Control Total

Parents- Child Laborer

Parents- Non-child laborers

Care-takers

Child Laborers

Non-child laborers

Employers of Child Laborers

respondents were found to be aware of the minimum age of employment as dictated by the legislation of the country.

Figure 10.2.1: Positive awareness regarding the Minimum age of

Employment as per law/legislation in Bangladesh

(Q: ‘Are you aware about the minimum age of employment in Bangladesh according to the laws/ legislation?’

Yes/No, Single Code response)

Majority of the employers (61%) were unaware of the minimum age of employment in the country, which is indicative to why they are prone to employing children in their workplaces. However, 39% of the employers were aware of the minimum age of employment, as can be seen from Figure: 10.2.1 above, but they continue to employ children regardless. The absence of regard for the law, despite being aware of them, is a matter of grave concern. Such behavior could easily have stemmed from lack of authoritarian control/ punitive measures that discourage employing children.

18.2 18.7

16.9

19.1 18.617.8

18.5

21.5

19.8

17.817.3 16.8

17.7

17.4

15.718.1

18.918.2

0

5

10

15

20

25

Urban Rural Control

Parents- Child Laborer

Parents- Non-child laborers

Care-takers

Child Laborers

Non-child laborers


Figure 10.2.2: The minimum age of employment as per law/legislation in

Bangladesh as stated by the surveyed respondents

(Q: ‘Please tell us, according to your knowledge, what is the minimum age of employment as per the law/legislation

in the country?’ Single Code response, open-ended)

Figure: 10.2.2 above shows the minimum age of employment in Bangladesh as stated by the respondents in the study. It can be readily observed that the stated age range lies from as low as 15.7 years to as high as 21.5 years. Parents/guardians of child laborers have stated a lower minimum age of employment than the parents of non child laborers. Male and female respondents from all segments of parents/guardians have stated similar responses for the above indicators.

Table 10.2.1: Sources of information from where knowledge regarding minimum

age of employment was gathered by the respondents

Sources of information Child

laborers%

Non-child

laborers%

Employers of

child laborers%

Television

- -

46

School/Educational

Institutions

19

Newspapers 25

Friends/Neighbors 33

Parents/ Guardians 23 36

-

Other family members 16 13

Friends 29 13

Friends/ colleagues in

workplace

23 3

Employer, owner or 8 -

supervisor

From teacher 23 56 (Q: From where did you learn or hear about the minimum age of employment in the country as per law/legislation?

Multiple Code Response)

The employers5 mentioned (46%) television as the highest source of information through which the knowledge regarding the minimum age of employment was gathered. 33% of the employers also mentioned having collected similar information from friends and neighbors. Non-child laborers seem to have highest exposure to the information provided by the schools they attend – 56% of the non-child laborers mentioned having received information on the minimum age of employment from their teachers whilst 36% also mentioned parents/guardians as sources. Table 10.2.1 above lists out the different sources mentioned by the respondents in details.

Figure 10.2.3: Awareness of the respondents from the secondary participant group

regarding minimum age of employment in Bangladesh

The respondents from the secondary participant group, which includes employers (who do not employ child laborers), religious leaders, trade union activists, and NGO personnel etc hold varying perceptions about the minimum age of employment according to the legislations in Bangladesh. Almost all the respondents from the

5 TV as a source of information pertaining to Age of Employment and relevant matters is a claimed

response. In reality, there are very limited numbers of documentaries, commercials or infomercials are, or

were ever, shown through the TV medium regarding the matter. This is why the other respondents did not

mention TV as a likely source of information.

Employers (who do not employ children)

- 15 years

- 18 years

- 18-20 years

- No application of the law

Religious leaders

- Minimum age of employment is not followed by employers in Bangladesh

- 20 years

- 18 years

Trade union activists

- 16-18 years

- 20 years

- Nobody follows the law, children are regularly being employed in hazardous

forms of work

NGO personnel

- 18 years

- Minimum age is not respected by anyone in this country

Minimum age of employment in

Bangladesh

68% 76% 60% 70%

96% 95% 92% 96%

100% 100% 100% 100%

69% 69% 79% 71%81% 87% 90% 88%87% 88% 79% 83%



Non-Child laborers

Child Laborers

Care-takers

Parents of Non-child laborers

Parents of Child Laborer

secondary participant group opined that laws and legislations are frequently evaded by employers across the country, which translates into children being employed in many different hazardous forms of work almost on a regular basis.

10.3 Awareness about primary education being compulsory and free for all children

aged 5-14 years in Bangladesh

Figure 10.3.1 below highlights the positive awareness amongst the different respondents regarding the fact that primary education is compulsory for all children aged 5-14 years. It can be seen that majority of the respondents across all the categories were aware of this law. Amongst the different types of respondents however, child laborers and their parents attribute lower levels of awareness in comparison to others - whilst 96% of the parents of non-child laborers were aware of this issue in comparison to only 68% parents of child laborers.

Figure 10.3.1: Positive awareness regarding primary education being compulsory

for all children aged between 5-14 years

(Q: ‘Are you aware of the fact that primary education is compulsory for all children aged between 5-14 years in

Bangladesh according to the law?’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

The government provides free primary education to children till Class V in the country. Awareness regarding this fact was also quite high amongst the various populations as can be seen from Figure: 10.3.2 below. However, mirroring the findings above, the awareness level amongst the child laborers and their parents about primary education being free in the country was comparatively lower than other respondent categories.

“Government has made certain

laws and policies about sending

children to school, but I don’t

think they are followed properly.

The government should see

through that the parents are

continuing education of their

children till Class: 5.”

“Government should introduce

some special legislation for

providing education and

accommodation to the orphan

children in the country”

Employers, Bandarban on

Laws/legislation pertaining to

sending all children to school

73% 80% 67% 75%

90% 96% 95% 92%

100% 100% 100% 100%

68% 78% 77% 70%

91% 86% 96% 88%

90% 84% 82% 83%



Non-Child laborers

Child Laborers

Care-takers



Figure 10.3.2: Positive awareness regarding primary education

being free for all children aged between 5-14 years

(Q: „Are you aware of the fact that primary education is free for all children aged between 5-14 years in the

country?‟ Yes/No, Single Code response)

The implications of the above findings are evident in the actions of the families in which children are involved in income-earning activities and aren’t going to school. The parents of the child laborers were less aware of the opportunities that the government has created for children’s education and also of the legal obligation of complying with certain rules and regulations of the country. This dearth of knowledge is an obvious reason why their children are working, instead of studying. The respondents from the secondary respondent group were asked about the initiatives that need to be taken by the Government for improving the condition of children’s education in the country. Some of the collective responses include the following:

Govt. should provide books, pens, copies free of cost till 12

years of a child’s education life.

Govt. should ban employment of children.

Orphan children should be given special priority and free

education facilities.

Greater number of educational institutions should be built in

rural areas.

Number of registered government schools should be increased.

Education-assistance tools and equipments (such as

blackboards, chalk, dusters, chairs, tables in schools) should be

given free of cost to schools or at subsidized rates.

Technical education facilities and institutes should be increased

30 27

14

30

66

5446

63

97 100 100 97

3742 43

38




Care-takers

Employers

Respondents from the secondary participant group hold the view that school operational tools and equipments should be provided at subsidized rates, or even free of cost, to both the recipients and the providers of education. They stated that such an endeavor would eventually lead to improvement in the quality of education as well as an increase in the number of schools.

10.4 Awareness about ‘child labor’ and relevant activities that constitute child labor

Figure 10.4.1: Positive awareness of the term „child labor‟

(Q: „Are you aware of the term Child Labor?’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

As can be seen from Figure: 10.4.1 above, care-takers across urban, rural and control areas were aware of the term child labor, and such a high level of awareness is because the care-takers are working in close association with child laborers and are duly aware of these children’s conditions. However, the awareness regarding the phrase ‘child labor’ amongst employers of child laborers and parents of child laborers was extremely

“Govt. has some active laws on sending all children to school.

Primary education has been made compulsory for all children. Govt.

has also taken some initiatives for providing education to all disabled

children. Disable children have the right to read & write and have

their demands fulfilled. Govt. has announced that by 2011 they will

ensure 100% enrollment of children and by 2014 they will ensure

100% literacy within the country. We would like to convey our thanks

to the govt. for taking such a great initiative. “

Religious Leaders, Barisal on Laws/legislation pertaining to

sending all children to school

poor across all the regions: 63% of the parents of non-child laborers were aware of the term compared to a mere 30% of the parents of the child laborers and 38% of the employers of child laborers. Once again, low levels of awareness can be associated with actions of the latter two types of respondents; since many of the parents of child laborers and employers are unable to recall or relate to the the term ‘child labor’, they are more unlikely to understand the prohibition of involving children in different laborious activities. Table: 10.4.1 below shows some of the prevalent concepts contained by the respondents who are aware of the term child labor, as to what activities constitute ‘child labor’.

Table 10.4.1: Types of activities that constitute Child Labor Types of work that

constitutes child labor Parents of

child

laborer%

Parents of

non-child

laborers

%

Care-

takers% Employers%

Urban

Driving Vehicles 20 - 9 -

Any type of work 13 25 - 22

Welding 12 - 16 12

Helper in vehicles 10 - - -

Carrying heavy loads - 8 - -

Working in factories - 7 - -

Land digging - - 44 -

Brick and rock chipping 9 - - -

Risky or hazardous types

of work - - - 8

Rural

Any type of work 23 33 50 30

Working at a young age 14 - - 12

Any risky/ hazardous

work 13 9 - -

Carrying heavy loads - 8 - -

Wiring - - 50 -

Welding - - - 12

Control

Driving Vehicles 24 - 20 -

Any type of work 18 17 20 22

Any risky/ hazardous

work 18 - - 27

Factory worker 12 - - -

Working at a young age - 17 - -

Hotel - 13 - -

Garage - 9 - -

Helper in vehicles - - 20 -

Working for long duration - - 40 -

Recharging batteries - - 20 -

Construction - - 22

(Q: „According to your knowledge, what types of activities constitute Child Labor in the country?‟ Multiple

Code response)

Awareness about the fact that child labor constitutes any type of work (no matter the nature of the task) was lower amongst the parents of the child laborers when compared to parents of non-child laborers: 33% of the parents of non-child laborers in rural areas and 25% of the parents of non-child laborers in urban areas considered any type of work performed by a child to be child labor. Compared to the above, 23% of the parents of child laborers in rural areas and only 13% of the parents of child laborers in urban areas considered any type of work performed by a child to be child labor. 27% of the employers thought that only if children are involved in hazardous/risky work, it accounts for child labor.

Table 10.4.2: Percent of population who are aware that children aged

less than 14 years of age involved in any work is child labor- with probe

(Q: ‘Do you think that children aged less than 14 years involved in any type of work is child labor?’ Yes/No, single

code response)

Parents/guardians and the care-takers were asked for the exact definition of child labor and also whether they think children aged less than 14 years of age involved in any type of work can be defined as child labor. In response, almost all the respondents claimed to be aware of the fact and agreed with the statement. Despite such high level of claimed awareness (almost hundred percent), child labor is still practiced by the parents/guardians of child laborer. This attitude shows a disregard for the law/policy and for the adverse effects on children’s mental and physical health. It could also be ascribed to the financial crisis suffered by these families or absence of a viable option (parents are physically challenged to work, too many mouths to feed in the family, many young children in the family etc) that lead them to involve children in work despite being aware of the adversities associated with child labor.

Area Parents

of child

laborer%

Parents of non-

child laborers%

Care-

takers%

Urban 99 99 97

Rural 98 99 100

Control 100 100 80

Total 99 99 97

The various laws in Bangladesh pertaining

to Child Rights according to the KIs

1. Child Law 1974 ( wkï AvBb 1974)

2. Labor Law of Bangladesh 2006 (evsjv‡`k kªg

AvBb 2006)

3. National Child Labor reducing policy 2010

(RvZxq wkï kªg wbimb bxwZ)

4. Muslim Family Law

5. Law of Criminal Procedure of Bangladesh. (evsjv‡`k `Ûwewa)

6. Act 27, 28(1), 2, 3, 31, 32 of the Constitution of

Bangladesh has mentioned about Child’s Rights

7. Child Policy 2011

Table 10.4.3: Percent of population who are aware that children aged

between 15-18 years involved in hazardous work is child labor- with probe

(Q: ‘Do you think that children aged between 15-18 years of age involved in hazardous/risky forms of work

constitutes child labor?’ Yes/No, single code response)

When the same respondents were asked whether they think children aged between 15-18 years of age involved in hazardous forms of work can be defined as child labor, majority of the respondents across all the three categories responded positively.

However, the claimed awareness about this definition of child labor is comparatively lower amongst the parents/guardians segment than compared to the previous definition (children below age 14 years doing any type of work is child labor). This is at par with the definition of a child provided by the respondents from the same segment (average age till which a person is considered as a child lies within the range 12-13 years)

It can be inferred from the above findings that awareness regarding age-specific definitions of child labor is quite high amongst people who are aware of the term Child Labor. But a major portion of the respondent base has been found to be unaware of this term, so the awareness level on a whole remains very poor.

According to the respondents in the tertiary group, child labor occurs when a child is involved in any kind of work. The work can be light, hazardous, or risky. The labor can be expended in two forms – mental and physical. Work that is hazardous in nature, unsafe, has to be undertaken in unhealthy atmosphere, work that takes a long time every day, work without entertainment or rest can all be defined as child labor. These children may receive money, food or other facility in return of their services, but nonetheless, such forms of labor are prohibited in the country. They also mentioned that the laws/legislation pertaining to child rights in Bangladesh are not effective.

Area Parents of

child

laborer%

Parents of non-

child laborers%

Care-

takers%

Urban 86 95 97

Rural 91 90 100

Control 88 85 80

Total 87 94 97

Such dismal failure of application of the laws in the country is mainly due to the Bangladeshi social context. People’s adverse financial condition does not allow them an option of practicing child rights in their life. People are also less aware about the rights of children. Furthermore, the respondents also opined that children themselves may be restricted in wanting to realize their rights as a human being, since the societal dynamics often give them little freedom to express their opinion. Children are doing various types of works in different factories, restaurant/hotels, agriculture, manufacturing companies, and construction or transport related work. Poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, lack of awareness etc are all reasons why so many children are involved in child labor in the country.

10.5 Awareness about different rules and legislations pertaining to employing children

Figure 10.5.1: Percent of the population who are aware of the rules/legislations

related to employing children aged between 15-18 years

(Q: ‘Are you aware of the preconditions to which one has to comply before employing children aged between 15-18

years of age in Bangladesh?’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

Awareness about the different rules and legislations regarding employing children aged between 15-18 years in Bangladesh was higher amongst the parents of child laborers in urban areas (30%), than compared to parents of non-child laborers in the same area (10%). However, the scenario changes in the case of the rural areas and control area, where more number of parents of non-child laborers were aware of the preconditions of employment when compared to the parents of child laborers. At an overall level, the awareness regarding the laws/legislation was very low amongst the parents/guardians of child laborers (4%). This is an alarming finding and can be attributed to several factors: lack of exposure to the information; unwillingness to seek information pertaining to employment of children etc. Either ways, this issue needs to be addressed.

30

7

04

1012

4

11

36

1 0

40

24

1 237

24

12

31

57

17

0

10

20

30

40

50

60




Care-takers

Child Laborers

Non-child laborers

Employers

13

24

8

16

47 45

36

43

91

100 100 97

18

25

8

20

46 48

35

47

2126

1922

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100




Care-takers

Child Laborers

Non-child laborers

Employers

1421

815

4437

25

43

91

100 100 97

14

22

5

16

4036

29

39

1824

9

20

0

20

40

60

80

100

120




Care-takers

Child Laborers

Non-child laborers

Employers

Employers of child laborers had very poor awareness about the rules and legislations regarding employing children aged between 15-18 years of age; only 17% of the total employers have stated to be aware of the preconditions. This is an issue of great concern since lack of awareness on the employers’ side about the law can induce a spillover effect – employers can act as an important information source for parents and children, and if they remain unaware of the rules/legislations, the transfer of information remains absent or wrong information is passed. Awareness regarding the prohibitions about not employing children aged less than 14 years in any type of work and children between ages 15-18 years in hazardous forms of work was very high amongst the care-takers segment, but extremely low amongst the child laborers and their parents/guardians. Awareness regarding the same is also quite low amongst the employers of child laborers, as can be seen from Figure: 10.5.2 and Figure: 10.5.3 below.

(Figure: 10.5.2 Q: ‘Are you aware of the law that it is legally prohibited to employ children less than 14 years of age

in any type of work?’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

(Figure: 10.5.3 Q: „Are you aware of the law that it is legally prohibited to employ children aged between 15-18

years in hazardous/risky forms of work?’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

The knowledge regarding the preconditions about employment of children aged between 15-18 years should be present amongst all stakeholders in order to ensure child laborers’ rights and safety at work. Respondents were asked about what

Figure 10.5.3: Percent of population aware that it

is legally prohibited to employ children aged

between 15-18 years in hazardous type of work

Figure 10.5.2: Percent of population aware

that it is legally prohibited to employ children

less than 14 years of age in any type of work

laws/legislation pertaining to employing children between 15-18 years of age they are aware of. In response, most respondents across all the categories stated the responses depicted in Figure: 10.5.4.

Figure 10.5.4: Awareness regarding rules

and legislations pertaining to employing children aged between 15-18 years

(Q: ‘Please tell us about some of the preconditions that you can remember pertaining to employing

children aged between 15-18 years.’ Multiple Code response)

The respondents were able to recall at least one precondition from the list of seven, and the recall included preconditions such as refraining from engaging children in worst forms of labor; specify daily working hours; and to pay wages regularly at rates mutually agreed upon. It is also interesting to observe the somewhat poor levels of recall of

23

0

21

16

37

56

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Refraining from employing them in hazardous work



Care-takers

Child Laborers

Non-child laborers

Employers

48

12

0

32

11

32

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Provide a designated amount of salary regularly



Care-takers

Child Laborers

Non-child laborers

Employers

30

29

1614

38

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Mentioning the daily working hours



Care-takers

Child Laborers

Non-child laborers

Employers

laws/legislations by the parents of non-child laborers. The parents, whose children are not working anywhere, were less aware of the rules and legislations. Highest level of awareness amongst parents/guardians of child laborers pertain to the condition of providing designated amount of salary timely, which implies that the importance of the monetary gain is immense amongst the parents/ guardians of child laborers. Respondents from the secondary participant group were also asked to share about the preconditions of employing children aged 15-18 years. In response, the respondents mentioned about fixing working hours and abiding by them; providing weekly holidays; giving children age-appropriate work; treating children with respect etc. Details are given in Figure 10.5.5.

10.6 Awareness about the impact of child labor on children Figure: 10.6.1 and Figure: 10.6.2 below show the percentage of population who were

aware of the impact of child labor on children. Although majority of the respondents across all three segments were found to be aware, lowest levels of awareness were cited by parents of child laborers. It is also interesting to note that, when compared to the awareness about the adverse impact of child labor on children aged less than 14 years; fewer respondents amongst the parents/guardians seemed to be aware of the same impact on children aged between 15-18 years. This is a possible attribution of the definition of ‘child’ as perceived by the respondents. Children above 14 years of age are deemed to be more capable of working and less prone to physical or emotional trauma associated with laborious tasks.

Figure 10.5.5: Preconditions for employment of children between 15-18 years of age as recalled by secondary respondent group

They should be given work that is appropriate for their age. Working hours should be fixed and followed thoroughly. A fixed amount of salary should be determined. Weekly holidays should be provided. They cannot be involved in any hazardous/heavy work. Food and accommodation should be provided to the children. They cannot work for more than 4-5 hours per day. They should be properly and respectfully treated at their workplace.

(For Fig:10.6.1 Q: ‘Do you think that children aged less than 14 years, who are involved in any type of work, suffer

from adverse effects on their physical, cognitive and social development?’ ’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

(For Fig:10.6.2 Q: ‘Do you think that children aged between 15-18 years involved in hazardous/risky forms of work,

suffer from adverse effects on their physical, cognitive and social development?’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

The adverse impact of child labor on children, as perceived by the respondents, include fever, headache, vomiting due to work pressure (cited by 44% of the parents of child laborer), accidents leading to mutilation of body parts (cited by 23% of the parents of non-child laborers); hamper on physical growth (cited by 60% of the care-takers) etc. Table: 10.6.1 and 10.6.2 below shows the impacts that gained highest responses.

Figure 10.6.1: Percent of population

who are aware of the adverse impact

of child labor in children‟s (aged less

than 14 years) in physical, cognitive,

and social development

Figure 10.6.2: Percent of population

who are aware of the adverse impact

of child labor in children‟s (aged

between 15-18 years) in physical,

cognitive, and social development

73

8579

76

8794 96

88

100 100 100 100

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100




Care-takers

54 54 53 5460

7174

6260

88

100

89

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100




Care-takers

Table 10.6.1: The adverse impact of child labor on children‟s (aged less than 14

years) physical, cognitive, and social development

Impact Parents of Child

Laborer%

Parents of Non-

child laborers%

Care-takers%

Fever, headache, vomiting 44 -

- Mutilation of body parts 31 23

Falls sick often - 16

Physical growth is

hampered - -

60

Becomes mentally

distressed 34

(Q: ‘Please tell us about the adverse effects on the physical, cognitive and social development of a child aged less

than 14 years due to child labor that you are aware of.’ Multiple Code response)

Table 10.6.2: The stated adverse impact of child labor on children‟s (aged between

15-18 years) physical, cognitive, and social development

Impact Parents of Child

Laborer%

Parents of Non-

child laborers%

Care-takers%

Sickness such as fever,

headache 23

- -

Mutilation of body parts 16

Lose ability to work

properly 16 16

- Impedes mental and

physical growth - 15

Suffers from different

diseases like fever, skin

disease, eye sight problems

etc.

- -

81

May become physically

disable 39

(Q: ‘Please tell us about the adverse effects on the physical, cognitive, and social development of a child aged

between 15-18 years due to child labor that you are aware of.’ Multiple Code response)

10.7 Awareness about the importance of school and education in children’s life

The parents/guardians and care-takers surveyed in the study were asked whether they agree to the statement that ‘School is the best place to work for children’. In response, majority of the respondents across all the three categories agreed to the statement, as can be seen from Figure: 10.7.1, indicating that schools are deemed to be the most appropriate venue for children by the parents/guardians and care-takers. The reasons why this is so deemed by the respondents is rooted in the belief that educated people obtain better paid jobs in the future, and that the lessons delivered through the school curriculum teaches children about the different tact and skills required for being a skilled labor in the market. Table 10.7.1 lists down some of the common responses cited by respondents across the three segments.

(Q: ‘Do you agree that school is the best place for children to work?’ Yes/No, Single Code

response)

Table 10.7.1: Reasons why school is considered to be the best

place for children to work

Figure 10.7.1: Percent of population who think school is

the best place to work for children

64 62

40

63

73 7470

73

60

85

50

83

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90




Care-takers

(Q: ‘Why do

you think

that school is the best place for children to work?‟ Multiple Code response)

School and education are deemed to be the gateways for availing a better job in the future- such is the predominant understanding held by the respondents surveyed in the segments parents/guardians and care-takers. The most common perception held by the parents/guardians and care-takers of why education is important in the development of a child’s physical, psychological and cognitive aspects is that, education leads to the development of a person’s intellect. Table: 10.7.2 below shows the various perceptions cited by the respondents.

Table 10.7.2: The importance of education in child‟s physical, psychological,

cognitive, and social development

Factors cited Parents of

Child

Laborer%

Parents of Non-

child

laborers%

Care-takers%

Education leads to

development and

progress in life and a

person‟s intellect

44 30 66

Educated people get

better jobs 15 - -

They can work for social

development causes in

the future

- 13

Responsibility towards

the society grows - -

31

(Q: ‘How does education contribute to a child’s physical, psychological, cognitive, and social development?’

Multiple Code response)

Reasons cited Parents of

Child

Laborer%

Parents of

Non-child

laborers%

Care-takers%

Education helps

people to get a better

job later

28 23 31

School and its

curriculum teaches

people how to work

29 25

-

School teaches people

about many different

things

17 15 17

They become

educated - -

48

10.8 Employer’s awareness about Child Labor and the Rules/Legislations pertaining to eliminating Child Labor From Figure: 10.8.1 below, it can be inferred that a major portion of the employers of child laborers surveyed in the study are unaware regarding the existing laws in Bangladesh that requires all children between 5-14 years to attend primary school and also of the National Child Labor Elimination Policy 2010. This is an issue of great concern since lack of awareness amongst employers’ leads to greater employment of children as labor. Without proper understanding of obligations and prohibitions set by the laws of the country, employers are more likely to continue with employing children in both light and hazardous forms of work.

Figure 10.8.1: Employer‟s awareness level about existing rules/legislations

pertaining to sending children to school and about the

National Child Labor Elimination Policy

(Q: Are you aware of any laws/legislations in the country requiring all children to be sent to school? Yes/No,

Single Code response); (Q: Are you aware of the National Child Labor Elimination Policy? Yes/No, Single Code)

Employers (who do not employ children) from the secondary participant group in Bandarban shared their views that although Bangladesh Government does have some laws about prohibiting employment of children, these laws are hardly observed or respected by employers at both the district (zilla) and sub-district (upazilla) level. One of the respondent stated, “Child laborers should be withdrawn from their work, if necessary by force, and if their parents are unable to provide them education then the Government should take all responsibilities of educating the child. This approach will be more effective than the present laws/legislations.” Religious leaders from Khulna mentioned that it is legally prohibited to employ children in any type of work. Legal punitive measures can be taken against employers who employ children; ‘Child abuse’ case can be filed against them. However, they also commented that the application of

23

16

2118

24

14

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Percent of Employers who are aware of any rules/ legislations regarding sending children to

school

Percent of Employers who are aware of the National Child Labor

Elimination Policy

Urban

Rural

Control

16

12

7

6

14

5

6

12

7

2

6

5

2

6

5

8

4

0

0 5 10 15 20

Urban

Rural

Control

Workshops

Hotels

Construction

Brick fields

Factories (Salt/ Sawmills/

Thread making)

Welding/Grills

such rules and legislation is hardly evident, hence making the laws ineffective.

10.9 Employer’s awareness about the types of industries/activities that employ children aged less than 14 years in risky/hazardous form of work Many of the employers in the urban areas mentioned welding/grill making as an activity where a lot of children aged less than 14 years were employed. Factories such as salt-production, saw-mills, thread-making factories etc were also mentioned by many of the employers in the rural area.

Figure 10.9.1: Industries/activities that employ children less than 14

years of age in risky/hazardous forms of work

(Q: ‘Please tell us according to your knowledge, what are some of the industries or occupation that employ child

laborers in the country?’ Multiple Code response)

The respondents from the secondary participant group were also asked about the types of work or industries that employ children in hazardous forms of work in the country. In response, respondents across various segments mentioned several types of works including hotels, automobile repairs, work related to chemicals, welding etc. Besides naming specific professions, religious leaders, trade union activists, and NGO Personnel also stated that any work that interferes with a child’s time to study and/or is threatening to the life of the child is hazardous work, and many children in the country are involved in such types of work. Specific responses received from the secondary participants’ group are given below in Figure: 10.9.2.

Figure 10.9.2: Types of work/industry that are prohibited to employ children

according to the respondents from the secondary participant group

Employers (who do not employ

children)

Hotels;

Bus helper;

Rickshaw-puller;

Driving;

mechanical work;

lifting heavy objects;

operating welding machine;

ship breaking;

driving boat;

stone chipping,

glass factory;

pump-machine in automobile

indsutry;

ice factory

etc

Religious leaders

Life-threatening

work

Work that interferes with their studying and education

time

NGO Personnel

Any work that is risky

Work that involves sharp

objects and flammable

tools

Construction

Trade union activists

Work that involved

chemicals;

Automobile industry;

Paint industry etc

11.0 ATTITUDE TOWARDS CHILD RIGHTS, EDUCATION CHILD LABOR

11.1 Perception on the importance of education in children’s life Poor families often rely on their children as income-earners for the household. As a result, education is often not provided to the children. Such trade-offs may occur due to various reasons other than financial ones only. It could also be attributed to the attitude of the parents towards education. In order to understand the level of importance attached by the target respondents towards education, respondents were asked whether or not they agree to the statement “Education is important for a child’s future”. In response, majority of the respondents from parents/guardians of child laborers, care-takers, and employers agreed to the statement, as can be seen from Table 11.1.1 below.

Table 11.1.1: “Education is important for a child‟s future”

Ratings (5 being Completely Agree

to 1 being Completely Disagree) Urban% Rural% Control% Total%

Parents of child

laborer Agree (Pt:4) 54 54 66 54

Parents of non-

child laborers

Completely

Agree (Pt:5) 71 64 49 70

Care-takers Agree (Pt:4) 64 50 100 63

Employers Agree (Pt:5) 54 52 69 54 (Q: ‘Please provide a rating on a 5 pt. scale where ‘1’ is Completely Disagree to ‘5’ being Completely Agree on the

following statement: Education is important for a child’s future.’ Single Code response)

From their claimed responses, it can be inferred that higher levels of importance are attached to education by parents/guardians of non-child laborers, than compared to those of child laborers. This could be because children of the respondents from the latter group are already involved in income-earning activities and education will compromise them with the money – implying a trade-off relationship between wages (hours spent in work) and education (hours spent in studying). In the case of employers of child laborers, it is obvious that they are naturally more inclined towards hiring children, so if more children are taken away from employment to education, it will not benefit them. The importance of education in constructing a person’s life and future is realized by all the participants in the secondary participant group. There was unanimous agreement amongst the respondents that an educated child is capable to take decisions about his/her future and will have the intellect required to be involved in social welfare and development. Education and jobs are inter-dependent, according to the participants in the Employers FGD in Chittagong. Education also helps children in learning about the responsibilities of being a good citizen. One employer from the Bandarban group stated, “Nowadays children are exposed to extensive knowledge, thanks to computers. However, learning about computers is possible only if a child is educated. Today even a Class 8 student knows what the internet is. He learns not only about his/her country, but

about the rest of the world. They are updated about the world and in this way their intellect grows.”

Figure 11.1.1: Perception on the Importance of finishing school education

by both girls and boys

(Q: ‘Please tell us, according to your opinion, whether it is important for boys to finish formal school education, or

for girls to do the same, or for neither, or for both.’ Single Code response)

It can be seen that majority of the respondents across all the segments perceive completion of education equally necessary for both girls and boys. Despite having this egalitarian attitude, in practice many of the parents/ guardians of child laborers do not send their children to school. As already explained before, financial crisis acts as a major impediment in allowing children in these families to be extricated from work, hence their parents remain unwilling to practice what they believe. School is looked at as the means by which children will be able to get good jobs in the future and also as the medium through which knowledge can be acquired, as can be seen from Table 11.1.2: below.

It is equally important for both boys and girls to finish

school

77% of the Employers

87% of the Parents of

child laborers

95% of the Parents of non-child laborers

100% of the

Caregivers

Table 11.1.2: Reasons for sending children to school

Reasons Urban% Rural% Control% Total%

Parents of Child

Laborer

To provide education 42 40 42 42

So that they get good jobs in

future

31 36 33 32

For better future 17 16 85 17

Parents of Non-

child laborers

To provide education 44 48 46 45

So that they get good jobs in

future

26 39 43 29

For better future 23 16 13 22

Care-takers To provide education 67 50 20 66

For better future 24 - 40 23

For earning knowledge 18 - - 17 (Q: ‘Please tell us the reasons why you send your children to school.’ Multiple Code response)

Education was deemed to be an expensive investment by most of the parents of child laborers and also by parents/guardians of non-child laborers, as can be seen from Figure: 11.1.2 below. This perception could explain why parents/guardians are often unwilling to send children to school.

Figure 11.1.2: Percent of population who agree to the statement

„Educating children consumes a huge amount of resources‟

(Q: ‘Do you think that educating children consumes a huge amount of financial resources?’ Yes/No, Single Code

responses)

75

66

7873

60 59

89

5955

50

100

54

0

20

40

60

80

100

120



Parents of non-child laborers

Care-takers

11.2 Reasons why children work A very insightful finding has been drawn from the FGD sessions that were held with various respondents from the secondary participant group. From the discussion, it was clear that poverty is the main reason for which children in poor families take up jobs. Young children from families with little or no income are at the greatest risk of becoming laborers. In many of these families, either one or both of the parents is physically challenged or too sick to work and earn money. In such a dire situation, the young children of the family have to take the responsibility of earning money. Lack of awareness and illiteracy of the parents also translates into children remaining uneducated and working instead of studying. Often, the overriding perception amongst illiterate parents is that a child can be the means through which money can be earned, while education is a waste of time and money. In Bangladesh, educated people may not always end up availing good jobs. In many instances it was seen that after investing quite a substantial sum of money behind educating the children, the children were able to acquire petty jobs with low pay. This discourages parents from poor families in investing in education and instead they opt to send their children off to work from young ages. Employers in the country are also largely responsible for such prevalence of child labor in the country. They view children as minimum-wage laborers, obedient and easy-to-handle. Many employers do not even pay the child laborers; they provide meals for the day instead. The economics of employing children is rather intriguing- a great number of children can be employed at very little wages which leads to falling costs of labor, and signs of any economic benefits to the family. A religious leader from Barisal said, “The present government places a lot of importance in education of children; it is evident in many of the interventions that the government has taken. Despite this, people like us, who are aware and learned, continue to employ children. Why? Because everyone is concerned about their vested interests! We calculate that hiring a child in place of an adult will mean payment of lower wages. We don’t think that this child has a right to have a good future, we don’t think of the possibilities that this child could have explored if he/she attained education. If we wanted, we could have told these children to study, finish their education, and then come back to us for a job. But we don’t say that; we don’t want to say such things.” Parents of child laborers were asked about the reasons why their children are involved in different kinds of work/activities. It can be seen from the Table: 11.2.1 below that financial crisis is the major stated reason by the respondents.

Table 11.2.1: Reasons why children are involved in work

Reasons for sending children to work Urban% Rural% Control% Total%

For financial crisis 67 58 50 65

Child is inattentive towards education 16 18 31 17

For earning money for the family 13 11 15 12

Reasons for involving children in

household chores/work

Urban% Rural% Control% Total%

Help the mother with household work 17 18 10 17

Family is in financial crisis, both sets of

parents need to go and earn money

9 15 19 11

To learn how to work 11 7 12 10 (Q: ‘Please tell us the reasons why you have sent your children to work?’ Multiple Code responses)

(Q: ‘Please tell us the reasons why your children are involved in household work?’ Multiple Code responses)

It can be readily seen that, children are viewed as sources of income by these parents/guardians (12%). In families with uneducated parents and disregard for education, children are probably going to be less interested to study, and hence be inattentive towards education (cited by 17% of the parents/guardians). Many of these families, such as the ones surveyed, also live in communities with pervasive illiteracy (slums, floating families, backward rural settings etc), and education facilities in such areas are often not of good quality to attract people to send their children to school. Involvement of children in household work, on the other hand, occurs either because none of the parents have the option to stay back home and take care of household chores since both have to work and earn money (cited by 11%) and that these children (esp. the girls) are required to learn how to handle household chores for their own future families (10%).

Figure 11.2.1: Proportion of the parents/guardians of child laborers who think their

children are better off working than studying

(Q: ‘Do you think your children, the young ones, are better contributing to the family and to themselves by working

rather than studying?’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

Young children are

better off working than

studying

Urban-63%

Control - 67%

Total -61%

Rural-54%

More than half of the parents/ guardians of child laborers (61%) perceive their children as being better off working than studying. The opportunity cost of education is lost wages, and according to these parents/guardians, the costs of education obviously outweighs the benefits – education is deemed to be important for getting good jobs in the future, which is the benefit; however, an investment needs to be made at present to give that education. The decision that these parents/guardians face then is future benefit versus current costs. Excessive financial crisis faced by these families pushes them towards forgoing future benefits, and instead using their children as a means to earn more money.

11.3 Acceptable hours of working for children An important aspect to the attitude of the various stakeholders is to see how many hours of work by a child are deemed to be acceptable. Figure: 11.3.1 and Figure: 11.3.2 below shows the acceptable daily hours of working by children aged less than 14 years of age and for children aged between 15-18 years as perceived by respondents in the segments of parents and guardians, care-takers and employers.

(Fig: 11.3.1 Q: ‘How many hours per day do you think is appropriate for a child to work, who is aged less than 14

years?’ Single Code response)

(Fig: 11.3.2 Q: ‘How many hours per day do you think is appropriate for a child to work, who is aged between 15-18

years?’ Single Code response)

Figure 11.3.1: Acceptable daily total

working hours for children aged 14

years or less

Figure 11.3.2: Acceptable daily total

working hours for children aged

between 15-18 years

4.8 4.8

4.2

4.8

3.93.6

3.8 3.93.5

5

3

3.6

5.14.7

5.8

5

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7


Parents of Child laborer


Care-takers

Employers

6.46

5.8

6.3

5.1

4.6 4.65

4.5

7.5

4.2

4.7

6.9 6.9

7.5

6.9

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8


Parents of Child laborer


Care-takers

Employers

Employers, when compared to parents of non-child laborers, acknowledge higher number of working hours as being acceptable for children aged less than 146 years and also for children aged between 15-187 years (the results have been verified by running

significance tests). Parents of child laborers consider an average of 4.8 hrs per day as acceptable working hours for children aged less than 14 years, compared to an average of 3.9 hours per day accepted by parents of children. For children aged between 15-18 years, the acceptable hours of working as deemed by the respondents from the different segments, is higher. This could be attributed to the fact that many of the respondents in the parents/guardians and care-takers segment(s) do not consider any person aged between 15-18 years as children, as seen in Section: 10.1.1, and hence ascribe greater strength and productivity to these children.

11.4 Perception regarding schools and educational facilities in the community

Table 11.4.1: Satisfaction with various attributes of the schools in the community

Attributes Urban Rural Control

Cost of education Parents of child laborer 3.2 3 3.9

Parents of non-child laborers 2.7 2.5 3.1

Care-takers 3 2.5 3

Distance from the

nearest school to

your home

Parents of child laborer 2.8 2.5 2.7


Care-takers 2.7 1.5 2

Number of schools

in the area

Parents of child laborer 3 2.7 2.8


Care-takers 2.9 1.5 2.4

Provision of

equipment and

materials


Parents of non-child laborers 3.1 2.5 3

Care-takers 3.1 2.5 3

Availability/

number of teachers

Parents of child laborer 3.2 3 3.7


Care-takers 3 2.5 2.8

Class sizes Parents of child laborer 2.9 2.5 2.8


Care-takers 2.8 2 2.8

State of school

buildings




Curriculum Parents of child laborer 2.9 2.7 2.8


Care-takers 3.1 2.5 2.6

Methods of

teaching




6 Significance test results: (t-test=6.23, df=563, p<0.05)

7 Significance test results: (t-test=10.53, df=563, p<0.05)

Standard of

discipline



Care-takers 2.8 3 2.6 (Q: ‘Considering the schools in your locality, please provide your ratings of satisfaction on the following attributes

on a 5 pt. scale where ‘1’ is Completely Dissatisfied and ‘5’ is Completely Satisfied’.’ Single Code response)

By running a Factor Analysis8 (with 90% variance) on the satisfaction levels associated with the above 10 attributes pertaining to schools in the communities where the respondents live, the factors that have derived higher satisfaction levels by the respondents from the different segments have been identified. For parents of child laborers, schools in urban areas have earned higher satisfaction level compared to rural areas pertaining to the following attributes: cost of education, distance between home and the school, number of schools in the community, availability of teachers, class sizes and state of school the buildings. For parents of non-child laborers, schools in urban areas have earned higher satisfaction level compared to rural areas pertaining to the following attributes: cost of education, distance between home and the school, number of schools in the community, state of school buildings, curriculum taught, and methods of teaching. For care-takers, schools in urban areas have earned higher satisfaction level compared to rural areas pertaining to the following attributes: distance between home and the school and number of schools in the community.

11.5 Attitude towards children being involved in laborious task at a young age Respondents across all categories were asked whether they agree with the statement that working at a young age is the best way to learn. In response, majority of the respondents from the segments parents/guardians of non-child laborers (52%), care-takers (51%) and non-child laborers (55%) have disagreed. On the contrary, majority of the respondents from the segments parents/guardians of child laborers (75%), child laborers (72%), and employers (71%) hold the opposite perception – that working at a young age is in fact the best way to acquire knowledge and skills.

8 Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed variables in terms of a potentially

lower number of unobserved variables called factors. In other words, it is possible, for example, that variations in three

or four observed variables mainly reflect the variations in a single unobserved variable, or in a reduced number of

unobserved variables. Factor analysis searches for such joint variations in response to unobserved latent variables.

23

32

25 25

50

59 5752

55

0

60

51

25

3734

28

53

63 63

55

29 30

44

29

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70




Care-takers

Child Laborers

Non-child laborers

Figure 11.5.1: Percent of population who have disagreed that

working at young age is the best way to learn

(Q: ‘Do you agree to the statement ‘Working at a young age is the best way to learn’?’ Yes/No, Single Code

response)

Respondents from the segments parents/guardians of child laborers and parents/guardians of children who do not think that working at a young age is the best way to learn have justified their perception with two dominant causes: young children should study at that age, not work and that working at such a young age endangers child’s physical health in many ways. Table: 11.5.1 below shows the percentage of the population that cited these as the reasons behind their perception.

Table 11.5.1: Reasons why working at a young age is deemed inappropriate Reasons Urban % Rural % Control %

Parents of child

laborer

Children should study at young age 20 28 32

Children are physically endangered

if they work at a young age

25 19 24

Parents of non-

child laborer

Children should study at young age 20 15 18

Children are physically endangered

if they work at a young age

17 18 11

(Q: ‘Why do you think that working at a young age is not the best way to learn?’ Multiple Code response)

11.6 Attitude towards the health repercussions of children involved in child labor Respondents across all six segments were asked whether they agree to the statement ‘Working at a young age can be hazardous to children’s health’. In response, majority (56%) of the parents of non-child laborers completely agreed to the statement whilst majority of the parents of child laborers (52%) have ascribed slightly lower level of acceptance to the statement, as can be seen in Table: 11.6.1 below.

Table 11.6.1: „Working at a young age can be hazardous to children‟s health‟

Rating association:

Completely Agree (5) or

Completely Disagree (1)


Parents of

Child Laborer

Agree

(pt:4)

52 53 69 52

Parents of

Non-child

laborers

Completely

Agree

(pt:5)

57 50 35 56

Care-takers Agree (pt:

4)

70 100 100 71

Child

Laborers

Agree

(pt:4)

52 51 68 52

Non-child

laborers

Completely

Agree

(pt:5)

46 46 36 46

Employers Agree

(pt:4)

57 54 78 56

(Q: ‘Please provide your rating of agreement to the following statement on a scale of 5 pts

where ‘1’ is ‘Completely Disagree’ to ‘5’ being ‘Completely Agree’.’ Single code response)

Parents/guardians of child laborers who have disagreed to the above statement reasoned their perception by citing various causes: 31% of the respondents from this segment hold the view that children can earn money by working, and that entitles to a lot of benefit to the child him/herself and the family. A further 12.5% also believe that if a child studies and works simultaneously than he/she will be able to experience greater intake of knowledge. However, the respondents from the same segment who agreed that working at a young age can be hazardous to children backed their perception by stating that working at such a young age will only cause severe health repercussion on the child (cited by 25% of the respondents) and that children shouldn’t be working at a school going age when they should in fact be studying. Similar statements have also been mentioned by parents/guardians of non-child laborers, as can be seen from Figure: 11.6.1 below.

“Suppose a

child has an

ability to work

for 2 hours but

instead he is

made to works

for 4 hours. This

will cause him

stress and he

may get

mentally

depressed. His

physical growth

is also

hampered. He

may become

sick because of

depression.”

Employers,

Bandarban, on

the extent to

which

education as an

alternative to

child labor has

worked

Figure 11.6.1: Positive and negative perception on children working at a young age

Religious leader from the FGD session in Barisal commented on the psychological trauma that often occurs to child laborers: “I know of a woman in my neighborhood whose 10 year old son is working in a nearby factory. One day that little boy was accused of theft by his employers. The boy didn’t steal at all and he tried to convince his employers, but to no avail. This false accusation left the boy mentally devastated and he left his work and became depressed. I am sure many other child laborers are facing such issues at their work place which leaves them psychologically abnormal.”

11.7 Attitude towards receiving free education facilities for children Most of the parents of child laborers and non-child laborers have shown a high level of interest in sending all their children to school for studying free of all associated costs if they are presented with such facilities. However, the degree of interest varies between the two groups pertaining to this matter; parents of non-child laborers have shown greater level of interest than parents of child laborers. Details are given in Table: 11.7.1 below.

“For people who live on

hands-and-mouth, free

education facilities alone

may not prove to be the

best alternative. If

arrangements of working

while studying are

introduced, then the

effects of Child Labor

may be mitigated.”

Employers, Bandarban,

commenting on the

extent to which free

education as an

alternative to child

labor may/may not

work

25% and 20%

of the parents of

child laborers &

non-child

laborers

respectively

think that

working at

school age is

physically

harmful

Table 11.7.1: Willingness to send all children to school free of all associated costs

and without having to work anywhere, if given the opportunity

Ratings Urban% Rural% Control% Total%

Parents of child

laborer

Interested

(highest

response)

37 43 50 38

Not

Interested

17 23 23 19

Parents of non-

child laborers

Very

Interested

(highest

response)

53 37 32 49

Not

Interested

3 5 3 4

(Q: ‘Would you be interested to send all your children to school without having them to work anywhere, if you were

given the opportunity of providing them education free of all costs, including tuition fees, books, copies, pencils,

pens etc?’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

When parents and guardians were asked about how interested they would be if they were presented with an opportunity to send all their children to school while working somewhere, 46% of the parents/guardians of child laborers stated that they would be very interested to adopt this proposition. On the contrary, 31% of the parents of non-child laborers declared they would not be interested in taking use of any such opportunity. This diverging attitude between the two segments implies a very crucial point: parents of child laborers put a lot of importance to the aspect of their children earning money, probably even more than them studying but parents of non-child laborers would not want their children to be involved in work no matter how advantageous the proposition may seem.

Ratings Urban% Rural% Control% Total%

Parents of Child

Laborer

Very

Interested

(highest

response)

49 38 14 46

Not

Interested

6 7 14 6

Parents of non-

child laborers

Very

Interested

25 24 9 25

Not

Interested

(highest

response)

30 34 45 31

(Q: ‘Would you be interested to send all your children to school while simultaneously working somewhere, if you

were given the opportunity of providing them education free of all costs, including tuition fees, books, copies,

pencils, pens etc?’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

Table 11.7.2: Willingness of sending children to school

besides working if given an opportunity

20 21

25

20

4 3 243

0 03

0

5

10

15

20

25

30




Care-takers

11.8 Acceptance of child labor as a legalized form of labor 20% of the parents/guardians of child laborers think that ‘child labor’ should be legalized in the country. This percentage is quite high when compared to the insignificant proportion of the parents of non-child laborers and care-takers who think the same, as can be seen from Figure 11.8.1: below.

Figure 11.8.1: Percent of population who think that

child labor should be legalized in the country

(Q: ‘Do you feel that Child Labor should be made legal in the country?’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

Although very few of the parents/guardians of child laborers (20%) conceded that child labor should be legalized in the country, it is still much higher than other segments. This could be because, if child labor is made legal, then more number of employers will be willing to employ children hence allowing these families to have additional sources of income. Female respondents from the parents/guardians segment have shown slightly higher acceptance to child labor being legalized in the country than the male respondents from the same segment – whilst 25% of the female respondents from the parents/guardians of child laborers segment responded in the affirmative, 20% of the male respondents from the same segment assented to the same. Reasons why child labor should be legalized in Bangladesh as perceived by the respondents are mainly rooted in their understanding that financial burden on the family reduces if the children of those families work. Table 11.8.1 below lists out some of the frequently cited perceptions.

Table 11.8.1: Reasons why child labor should be legalized in Bangladesh as

perceived by the respondents

Reasons Urban% Rural% Control% Total%

Parents of child

laborer

For abating

poverty

30 48 55 50

Children can

help their

families by

earning

30 32 33 32

Parents of non-

child laborers

For abating

poverty

27 40 50 29

Children can

help their

families by

earning

19 - - 16

Care-takers To bring

financial

soundness in

the family

100 - - 100

(Q: ‘Please tell us the reasons why you think Child Labor should be made legal in the country?’ Multiple Code

response)

11.9 Employer’s attitude towards employment of children Employers of child laborers have been found to be employing children mostly because children, who are willing to work, are easily available and that they are a very cheap form of labor. It is quite apparent from these responses that employers of child laborers wish to employ children in the account of reducing costs.

Table 11.9.1: Reasons why employers want to employ children aged less than 18

years

Urban% Rural% Control% Total% They easily obey

orders 46 34 37 42

Cheap form of labor 31 26 49 30

They are very

submissive 27 36 2 29

They are easily

available 21 9 44 18

(Q: „Please tell us the reasons behind your decision to employ children less than 18 years of age.‟ Multiple Code

response)

Although these employers hire children for working, according to their perception, some occupations such as - work related to welding, driving and factories etc shouldn’t be performed by children aged between 15-18 years. Details are given in Table 11.9.2 below.

5567

413928

52

0

20

40

60

80

Urban Rural Control

Very Important

Important

Table 11.9.2: Type of work that employers think children

between 15-18 years shouldn't be doing at all

Urban% Rural% Control%

Welding/ grill

making

17 15 10

Driving vehicles 12 7 12

Working in

factories

7 18 7

(Q: ‘Please tell us about the kind of work in which children aged between 15-18 years shouldn’t be involved at all.’


Figure 11.9.1: Employer‟s perception on the

importance of providing a safe working environment

to child laborers

(Q: ‘How important do you think it is to provide a safe working

environment to child laborers at their workplace?’ Single Code response)

While providing a safe working environment to all child laborers is a requirement by law, more than often it can be seen that children are involved in risky or hazardous tasks that expose them to life-threatening accidents. Employers are responsible for providing safe working environment, and from Figure 11.9.1: above, it can be seen that almost all the employers surveyed think that providing a danger-free and congenial work place to child laborers is important. However, what they constitute as safe or danger-free may not be the same as a working environment that is actually safe and congenial for children. Safe working environment doesn’t only include safety from physical harm. It also requires safety of children from mental and sexual harassment. Although almost half of the employers surveyed are aware that children may face physical, sexual, and mental harassment at their work place, as can be seen from Figure: 11.9.3 below, a large proportion still remains unaware of this

Figure 11.9.2: Employers of child laborers -what they think. 60% of the Employers of child laborers hold the view that child laborers are benefitting from working since most of them live in abject poverty. Most of the Employers of child laborers have a very negative perception about the existing rules and legislations in Bangladesh pertaining to Child Labor. 79% of the surveyed employers think that the existing laws of the government banning child labor is not effective in achieving what it intends to. 93% of the employers believe that it is extremely important to educate children so that a skilled labor force is created for the country. Despite the above statistics, only 14% of the employers have ever really talked to any person/institution or have taken any step regarding reducing/ eliminating Child Labor from the country.

fact. This could be attributed to the lack of concern on the employer’s side about these matters.

Figure 11.9.3: Percent of employers who are aware that child laborers often face

physical, sexual, and mental harassment at their workplace

(Q: ‘Are you aware of child laborers facing physical, sexual and mental abuse at their workplaces?’ Yes/No, Single

Code response)

55 6149

0

20

40

60

80

Urban Rural Control

94100

67

96

48.7

76.2

50 55.6

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Urban (%)

Rural (%) Control (%)

All (%)

Employers who think it is important for child laborers to attend school

Employers who have adopted the practice of sending child laborers to school

12.0 PRACTICES PERTAINING EMPLOYMENT OF CHILD LABORERS,

EDUCATION AND CHILD RIGHTS

12.1 Practices of employers regarding involving children in work

Employers in the control area have a higher tendency to employ children aged less than 14 years while the propensity of employing children aged between 15-18 years is higher in the rural areas. From Figure 12.1.1 below a comparative picture of involving children in work in urban, rural and control areas can be seen.

Figure: 12.1.1: Employers‟ practice of involving children in work

As can be seen from Figure 12.1.2 below, 96% of the employers of child laborers find it important for child laborers to attend school and attain education. Approximately 56% of these employers have taken steps to provide education to the children who work under them. The disparity between intention and practice shows the disregard of the employers for children’s needs even though they are amply aware of them.

Figure 12.1.2: Perception vs. practice of employers with regards to education of

child laborers

5749

6764 67 64

01020304050607080

Urban (%) Rural (%) Control (%)

under 14 years of age

aged between 15-18 years

(Q: ‘Do you think it is important for child laborers to attend school and attain education?’ Q: ‘Do you or your

management have any arrangement in place for sending child laborers working at your workplace to school?’


12.2 Willingness to participate in employment by non-child laborers and willingness to allow participation of these children by their parents/guardians Only 7% of the parents of non-child laborer are interested to involve their children in work in the future if need arises and 28% of the non-child laborers want to be involved in some kind of work in the future. Reasons for future involvement include to acquire skills and experience; inability of the parents to continue further education; parents not being able to earn sufficient money etc. Figure: 12.2.1 below depicts the highest mentioned responses pertaining to this matter.

Figure 12.2.1: Reasons behind the willingness to be involved in work

(Q to Parents of non-child laborers: ‘Why do you want your children to join work in the immediate future?’ Q to

non-child laborers: ‘Why do you want to join some form of work in the immediate future?’Yes/No, Single Code

response)

Amongst the 93% of parents of non-child laborer, who do not want to let their children be involved in any type of work in the near future, 51% gave emphasis on continuing their children’s education and a further 8% believes that involving children in work will hamper their physical growth.

12.3 Types of work in which child laborers are presently engaged in: The child laborers are involved in different types of occupations including some which fall under the category of hazardous work. As Table 12.3.1 below illustrates, children are

28

46

18

71

38

38

56

19

68

32

22

67

11

82

21

0 20 40 60 80 100

Parents do not earn enough

To acquire work experience

Not possible to bear costs any further

To earn money

To acquire experience

Par

ents

of

no

n-c

hild

la

bo

rN

on

-ch

ild

lab

ore

r

Control (%)

Rural (%)

Urban (%)

mainly involved in selling products on the streets, collecting garbage (rag picking), welding, helpers in buses etc.

Table: 12.3.1 Different types of work in which children are engaged in

according to the different respondent segments

Types of works

Child

laborer %

Employer

%

Care-taker%

Children less

than 14 years

Children aged

between 15-18 years

Hawker/selling things

on the street 14 10 37 17

Household chores 10

-

33 -

Working in shops

-

26 25

Garbage collector/ rag

pickers (tokai) 22 -

Repairing things 11 12 - -

Welding/ grill making - 8 - 25

Helper in buses - - - 17

Porters (Kooli) - - 11 -

Construction work 8 - - -

Garments factory

related works 8 - - -

Handicrafts 13 - - -

Food serving - 8 - - (Q: ‘What are some of the activities in which child laborers are involved by quite a large extent in the country?’


Child laborers are often involved in work that is hazardous or risky for them. In many such cases, these children are not aware of the fact that they are working in a type of job whose nature is hazardous or risky. When the child laborers were asked about what kind of work they have to undertake as part of their job, the information illustrated in Figure: 12.3.1 was obtained. As can be seen, quite a high percentage of these children (32%) are involved in working with heavy/sharp objects.

Figure 12.3.1: Percentage of child laborers involved in

different hazardous work

(Q: ‘Please tell us about the nature of your work.’ Multiple Code responses)

Amongst the 24% of the child laborers who are using some form of tools in their work, 25% of them are using hammers and 14% of them are using cutters. Amongst the 21% of child laborers who are using different kinds of machineries, 31% are using sewing machine, 14% are using thread making machine, 10% are working with engine and 9% of them are using welding machine. When the non-child laborers were asked if they would ever want to be involved in any kind of hazardous work, 89% of them replied in the negative, showing not only a high level of awareness regarding the matter, but also their intended practice in the future.

16%

32%

24%21%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Children work with fire or

burning stuffs

Children work with heavy

and/or sharp material

Children work using tools

Children work with machineries

12.4 Practices of checking work environment before children are sent to work

Figure 12.4.1: Practice of employers regarding talking with parents of child laborers

about conditions and facilities before employing them

(Q: ‘Do you talk to the parents of these child laborers before employing them at work about the different conditions

and facilities that will be provided to these children?’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

As can be seen from Figure 12.4.1, more than 84% and 85% of the employers correspond with the parents of child laborers less than 14 years of age and of child laborers between 15-18 years of age, respectively about different conditions of employment and the facilities that would be provided to the children at work. Employers were further asked whether parents/guardians of children come to visit the workplace before letting their children work there. In response 73% of the employers said that parents/ guardians of children do come and check the work environment before sending their children to work. However when the same question was asked to the parents/ guardians of child laborers, 20% of them admitted that they do visit and check the condition of work environment before sending their children to work, as can be seen in Table: 12.4.1 below. The practice has been found to be slightly higher amongst the male respondents from the parents/ guardians of child laborer segment (20%), than compared to the female respondents from the same segment (18%).

8485

78

8484

8786

85

72

74

76

78

80

82

84

86

88

Urban (%) Rural (%) Control (%) All (%)

Parents of children under 14 years of age

Parents of children aged between 15-18 years

Table 12.4.1: Practice of the parents/guardians of child laborers of checking the

working environment before letting their children come to work

%

Urban 20

Rural 17

Control 26

All 20 (Q: ‘Do you initially visit the workplace before sending

you children to work?’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

12.5 Nature of work, work environment, and facilities provided to the child laborers:

Across all the centers, child laborers work an average of 9.4 hours in a day and amongst them 87% receives time-outs or breaks during the working day. Majority of these child laborers work 6 -7 days per week or more. Non-child laborers expressed their willingness to work on an average of 6.2 hours in a day in the future when they start working, and 38% of them will want to have time-outs or breaks twice a day.

Figure 12.5.1: Different facilities according to the employers that have to be

provided to the child laborers

(Q: ‘What facilities do you provide to the child laborers who work under you?’ Multiple Code responses)

From Figure 12.5.1 above, it can be seen that most of the employers provide food to the child laborers. Food is given at times in the form of lunch and at other times in the form of snacks. Providing a place for living to the child laborers is also of great importance especially in urban areas. The practice of providing holidays to the child laborer is quite poor since very few of the employers have mentioned providing holidays to these children. This is a matter of grave concern since this indicates that many child laborers are overworked and physically stressed.

7366 66

41

2937

117 5

28 26

1620 21

33

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80


Food

Living place

Holidays

Salary

Skill development

Table 12.5.1: Where the child laborers are working


At own home 8 22 16 12

At employers home 17 31 18 21

Factory – garments / chemicals /

balloon / matchsticks

25 14 14 22

At shops 18 12 27 16

On the street 6 3 3 5

At hotel 4 1 4 3 (Q to Child Laborers: ‘Where do you work?’ Single Code response)

Table 12.5.1 above depicts the places where the child laborers are working. It can be seen that a high percentage of the child laborers in the urban areas are involved in factory work whilst many of the child laborers in rural areas are working as house-assistance at other people’s home.

Figure 12.5.2: Child laborers who receive monetary payment in

return of their services

(Q to Child Laborers: ‘Do you receive monetary payment in exchange of the labor you provide?’ Yes/No, Single

Code response)

Although majority of the child laborers are receiving monetary payment in return of their services from their employers, the percentage is quite low in rural areas compared to urban areas. This is congruent to what was observed earlier in Figure: 12.5.2 where only few of the employers in rural areas stated to be providing wages to the child laborers in exchange of their services.

87

75

83

65

70

75

80

85

90


2286.9

2718.2

2476.5

2000

2100

2200

2300

2400

2500

2600

2700

2800

Urban Rural Control

Taka

Taka

Figure 12.5.3: Claimed average monthly income of a child laborer in BDT

(Q: ‘What is our monthly income from the work that you

perform in your workplace?’ Single Code response)

Figure: 12.5.4 Distribution of monthly income of a child laborer in BDT

(Q: ‘How much of the money that you earn do you spend for self every month? How much do you give away to your

parents/guardians/family every month?’ Single Code response)

542.4

1744.5

Child Laborers in urban areas

Average amount of money child labor spends for him/herself

Average amount of money child labor gives to family

680.6

1795.9

Child Laborers in control area



860.1

1858.1

Child Laborers in rural areas



2313.7

2807.52557.5

2416.9

19502152.4

1836.42019.7

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Urban (%) Rural (%) Control (%) Total (%)

Salaries/wages received by child laborers who doesn't receive accomodation facilities from employers

Salaries/wages received by child laborers who receives accomodation facilities from employers

Average income of a child laborer is TK. 2382.2 per month. From Figure 12.5.3 above, it can be seen that in the rural areas child laborers receive more money than compared to the child laborers in urban areas. One reason why this could be is because of the fact that urban areas have many floating families, and children in these families are easily available and can be made to work against payment of low amounts of money. Child laborers of rural areas have been found to spend a greater amount of money on their own needs than compared to the child laborers in urban and control areas. Child laborers across all centers have been found to be giving away almost three-fourth of their income to their families, as can be seen from Figure: 12.5.4 above. This shows that these children do make a significant monetary contribution to their family. Child laborers who receive accommodation as a facility from their employers receive lower wages/salaries. As can be seen from Figure 12.5.5 below, providing accommodation is traded off with lower salaries to children.

Figure 12.5.5: Salaries/wages received by child laborers based on accommodation

facilities

74% of the employers across all urban, rural and control areas have stated that they do provide a safe working environment to the child laborer. Employers define safe working environment for children as not involving children in hazardous work; not to make children work with heavy machineries and to provide children with breaks or rest-periods during the day.

Figure 12.5.6: Elements of safe environment for

child laborer provided by the employers

36% employers said that they do not allow child

laborers to be involved in hazardous work;

20% employers said that the child laborers do not

work with heavy machineries;

8% employers provide breaks or time-outs to the

child laborers during the work-day;

6% employers provide accommodation & food to

the child laborers.

85 8976

86

24 20 24 2316 18

616

0

20

40

60

80

100


Salary Free educaiton opportunity Food

12.6 Facilities desired by non-child laborers from their employers if they wish to be involved in work in the future Salary is the most demanded facility by the respondents in the non-child laborer segment. Besides salary, free education and food has also been mentioned by quite a few of these children, as can be seen from Figure: 12.6.1 above.

Figure 12.6.1: Facilities which non-child laborers desire to get

from employers if they work

(Q: ‘What are some of the facilities that you wish to receive from employers if you work in the future? Multiple

Response)

12.7 Facilities provided by caretakers through drop-in centers Out of the many different types of children who come to the drop-in centers, 37% constitute child laborers, 29% comprise of orphans, and 23% are children from poor families. Table 12.7.1 below contains details. Most of these children are under 14 years of age, as can be seen from Figure: 12.7.1 below.

Table 12.7.1: Types of children who come to the drop in centers

Types of children come to drop in

centers


Child labor 39 - 20 37

Orphans 27 50 40 29

Poor children 24 - 60 23

Children who do not go to school 12 50 - 14

Rag picker (tokai) 12 - 20 11 (Q: ‘What kind of children come to your centre?’ Multiple response)

Figure 12.7.1: Ages of children who are admitted in the

Drop-in centers

(Q: ‘What are the ages of the children who come to your centre?’ Multiple response)

These drop-in-center(s) mainly give basic education facilities to the children. They also provide entertainment opportunities to the children. These centers give counseling facilities, first-aid and medical facilities, resting facility and so on according to the children’s need and requirement. Figure 12.7.2 below shows some of the highest mentioned amenities provided to the children in these drop-in centers.

Figure 12.7.2: Different facilities provided by the care-takers to children

(Q: ‘What are some of the facilities that you provide to the children who come to your drop-in center?’ Multiple

Response)

76

100 100

77

36

0 0

34

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Urban Rural Control All

Children less than 14 years of age admitted in the centre

Children between 15-18 years of age admitted in the centre

70

64

55

39

39

33

100

100

50

0

0

0

60

0

40

20

60

0

0 50 100 150

Basic Education

Amusement/Recreation/ Sports

Counseling

First Aid and Medical treatment

Resting facilities

Locker

Control (%)

Rural (%)

Urban (%)

Drop-in-centers mainly give basic education facility to the children. They also provide entertainment opportunities to the children. These centers give counseling facilities, first-aid and medical facilities, resting facility and so on according to the children’s need and requirement As already seen earlier, many of the drop-in centers provide education facilities to the children. Children who come to the drop in centers do get an opportunity to enroll in to the educational programme. Caretakers in the drop-in-centers also provide training programmes to develop children’s skill for work. From Table 12.7.2 below, it can be seen that 26% of the drop-in centers in the urban area and 67 % of the drop-in centers in the control area are providing primary education to the children who come to their center. Training is provided mainly along the lines of education and self-development issues (cited by 75% of the caretakers in urban areas), technical/vocational (cited by 50% of the caretakers in urban areas) etc.

Table 12.7.2: Subjects taught and training provided to children in the drop-in

centers

(Q: ‘What subjects are taught to these children at your drop-in centre?’ Multiple Response; Q: ‘What kind of

training do you provide to the children who come to your drop-in centre?’ Multiple Response)

12.8 Practices of caretakers of visiting child laborer’s working place Only 42% of the caretakers visit the working place of the child laborers who come to their centers. In Table 12.8.1 below, it can be seen that 80% of these caretakers visit with the purpose of seeing the nature of the job in which the children are involved in, whilst 20% visit to see the working environment and a further 20% visit to learn about the work duration.

Facilities Topics Urban (%) Rural (%) Control

(%)

Subjects taught to the

children as part of the

education facilities

Primary education 26 - 67

Basic learning for life 17 - -

Personal health care

and hygiene

4 100 -

Education on society

and surroundings

13 - -

Types of skill training

provided to the

children

Education and self

development issues

75 100 -

Technical work 50 - -

Factory work 25 - -

Painting/drawing - 100 -

Table 12.8.1 Purpose behind the care-takers visiting child laborers‟ work place

%

To see the types of work 80

Working environment 20

Duration of work time 20 (Q: ‘Why do you visit the workplace of the children

who come to your center?’ Multiple Response)

12.9 Practices of parents/guardians in considering alternatives to employment of children in work Before sending children to work, a greater percentage (77%) of the parents/guardians of a potential child laborer consider providing skills development training to the child in order to make him/her more adept. Figure: 12.9.1 below exhibit the proportion of parents who had considered skills development and education for their children before letting them join work.

Figure 12.9.1: Parents/guardians of child laborers who considered providing

further education and/or skills development training to children before involving

them in work

(Q: ‘Did you consider providing further education to your children before deciding to send them off to work?’ ‘Did

you consider providing skills development training to your children before deciding to send them off to work?’


Some parents/guardians however, were unwilling to provide further education and/or skill development to their children and instead sent them off to work. Figure: 12.9.2 and Figure: 12.9.3 below illustrates some of the reasons why they think so.

71%

75%

70%72%

75%

82%

71%

77%

64%66%68%70%72%74%76%78%80%82%84%

Urban Rural Control All

Education

Skill development training

(Q: ‘Why are you not interested to provide further education to your children?’ Multiple Response)

(Q: ‘Why are you not interested to provide further skills development training to your children?’

Multiple Response)

The parents/guardians of non-child laborers, however, are more intent in providing education to their children. As can be observed from Table 12.9.1 below, 94% of these parents/guardians have confirmed that their plan is to provide higher education to their children.

Table 12.9.1: Parents of non child laborers who are planning

to provide higher education to their children

(Q: ‘Are you planning to provide higher education to

all your children?’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

Their children have also expressed similar thoughts, and only 28% have stated that if necessary, they will join some form of work while remaining a child. However, 90%

%

Urban 94

Rural 92

Control 91

All 94

Figure 12.9.2 Reasons why parents do not wish to provide further education to

children

Amongst the 28% of the parents/guardians of child laborers who were unwilling to

provide further education to their children:

83% of them in urban, 82% in rural and 87% in control area do not want to

provide further education for financial crisis.

11% of these parents/guardians across all the centers stated that their children

are not attentive, so there is no benefit in making them study any further.

Figure 12.9.3: Reasons why parents do not wish to provide further skill

development training to children

Amongst the 23% of parents/guardians of child laborers who don’t want to provide

further skills development to their children:

48% of them in urban, 61% in rural and 67% in control areas are in financial

crisis.

12% of them in urban, 11% in rural and 6% in control areas think working is

better than spending time and money in training.

amongst these 28% stated that they would continue studying besides working, as can be seen from Table: 12.9.2 below. Clearly, parents/guardians of child laborers are less interested in education than the respondents in the above two segments. This could be because of a synergy of many factors: lack of awareness; financial severities; disregard for benefits of education etc. This sums up to unwillingness to provide education to children, as is displayed by the practice adopted by the parents/guardians of child laborers

Table 12.9.2: Children who desire to continue their

study along with working in the future %

Urban 90

Rural 98

Control 97

All 92 (Q: ‘If you are required to join some form of work in the immediate future, will

you be willing to continue studying side-by-side as well?’ Yes/No, Single Code response)

12.10 Practices of different target segments in dealing with Child Abuse Abuse on child laborers is a matter of grave concern. Child laborers often face physical abuse by their employers and co-workers. Amongst the child laborers in the control area, 7% were abused by the co-workers and 9% were abused by the employers while in rural areas, 9% of the child laborers stated to have been abused by their co-workers, and 12% by their employers. Table 12.10.1 below lists down the details pertaining to this matter.

Table 12.10.1: Abuse on child laborers at work – who are the

abusers

Urban

(%)

Rural

(%)

Control (%)

Co-workers 5 9 7

Employers 8 12 9 (Q to child laborers: ‘Who abused you at your workplace?’ Multiple response)

Greater percentage of the child laborers in urban areas face mental torture than physical abuse, and the opposite is true for child laborers in rural areas. Physical torture includes beating, whilst psychological abuse includes scolding, shouting of profanities etc. Figure: 12.10.2 below depicts the above situation.

Figure 12.10.1:

Difference in practice

after being abused

Very few of the child

laborers (in total 6%)

who face mis-treatment

from employers/co-

workers complain to their

parents/ guardians about

the situation. This is in

clear contrast to the

percentage of non-child

laborers who expresses

their issues and

complains to their

parents/guardians if they

are ever abused in any

form by anyone: 24% of

the non-child laborers in

urban areas and 13% of

the children in rural

areas have complained to

their parents/ guardians

after having been abused.

Figure 12.10.2: Types of abuse on child laborers by the co-workers and the

employers

(Q to child laborer: ‘What

kind of abuse did you face

from the abusers at your

workplace?’ Multiple

response)

12.11 Physical problems faced by Child laborers due to working From the survey it has been found that child laborers suffer from different health repercussions due to being involved in work. Fever, cold, cough are some of the most mentioned physical illness by the child laborers. Besides this, accidents leading to loss/ mutilation of body parts are also faced by these children. Figure: 12.11.1 below depicts the details.

Figure 12.11.1: Types of diseases that child laborer suffer due to their work

(Q to Child Laborers: What kind of sickness did you suffer from due to working?’ Multiple response)

Due to the different problems faced by the child laborers at work, many of them wish to leave their work. As can be seen from Table 12.11.1 below, 38% of the child laborers have expressed their inclination to leave the work. Most important reason for this is that these children are unable to take the excessive stress/pressure involved with their work.

66

62

39

46

63

82

34

44

72

58

88

55

0 20 40 60 80 100

Co-workers

Employers

Co-workers

Employers

Co-workers

Employers

Urb

an

(%)

Ru

ral

(%)

Co

ntr

ol

(%)

Physical torture/beating

Mental abuse

62

37

15

9

71

29

9

9

60

56

22

7

0 20 40 60 80

Fever, cold, cough

Headache, bodyache

Damage to body parts

Jaundice

Control (%)

Rural (%)

Urban (%)

Figure 12.11.2: Reasons why child laborers

wish to quit work Table 12.11.1 Percentage of child

laborers who wish to quit work

(Q for Table 12.11.1: ‘Do you wish to quit

from your work?’ Yes/No, Single Code)

(

Q for Figure: 12.11.2: ‘Why do you wish to quit work?’

( Multiple responses)

%

Urban 34

Rural 47

Control 62

All 38

50

62

64

54

15

19

21

16

0 20 40 60 80

Urban (%)

Rural (%)

Control (%)

All (%) They don't want to work anymore

Too much stress/pressure at work

13.0 EXPECTATIONS FROM THE SOCIETY REGARDING CHILDREN,

THEIR EDUCATION, AND OCCUPATION

13.1 Child laborers and non-child laborer’s expectations from the society Child laborers and non-child laborers are required to be provided proper guidance and assistance by not only the family but also by the society. Often, their expectations from the society are largely determined by how much they are aware of their surroundings, and what constitutes their reality. In the survey, child laborers and non-child laborers alike were asked about their dreams and aspirations in life. Figure: 13.1.1below shows some of the highest-mentioned responses from the two segments.

Figure 13.1.1: Dreams/Aspiration in life (Q: ‘What are your dreams/hopes/aspirations about yourself? Multiple response)

It is quite apparent that non-child laborers and child laborer’s expectation types are not the same. While a non-child laborer wishes to be a doctor or a teacher, a child laborer’s dream is to be a businessman or a shopkeeper. Child laborers who wish to study will require education to be provided free of cost. This illustrates the need for these children to be involved in income-earning activities, even if they would rather study. Child laborers & non-child laborers attribute different levels of reliability to the different actors who can help/assist them in fulfilling their dreams/aspirations. From Figure: 13.1.2 below, it can be seen that non-child laborers look up to the government as a source of help, whilst for the same purpose, child laborers look up to their employers. Both non-child laborer & child laborers are dependent on their parents and relatives as well.

Non child labor Want to be teacher= 17% Want to be a doctor= 25% Want to do job= 19% Want to do business=5%

Child labor Want to be a shopkeeper= 11% Want to do business=20% Want to do job= 17% Want to study free of cost= 12%

Figure 13.1.2: Actors who can help/assist in fulfilling the aspiration

(Q: ‘Who all can help you achieve the dream/aspiration that you have?’ Multiple response)

The type of help/assistance that these children seek from the different actors is quite similar in nature. Most of the non-child laborers and child laborers have commented that they would require financial assistance from the actors in order to fulfill their aspirations. Other than this, assistance with education and employment has also been mentioned by the respondents from both the segments as can be seen from Table: 13.1.1below.

Table 13.1.1: Type of help that reliable actors can provide

Non-child laborers % Child laborers %

Financial assistance 41 Financial assistance 62

Assistance/encouragement to study

further

26 Assistance for education

17

All kinds of assistance 9 All kinds of assistance 5

Employment opportunity 6 Employment opportunity 8

Blessings 8

Free education facility from the

govt.

6

(Q: ‘What kind of help would they be able to provide you in order for you to achieve your dream/aspiration?’

Multiple response)

Table: 13.1.2 portrays the expectations that these children and child laborers have from employers to make their working place risk and danger-free. It can be understood from the figures that each and every response expressed by the respondents from the two segments has been derived from their personal experiences. It is quite common for employers to give heavy work to children. Child laborers also often don’t get fair wages and their employers do not behave well with them. In line with such experiences, the respondents from the child laborers and children segments have asked for being provided a risk and danger free work environment and of being provided light work and not hazardous work.

69 69 73

16 1812

3627 23

0

20

40

60

80

Control Urban Rural

Child laborers

Parents

Relatives

Employers

91 88 91

13 20 16

50 44 49

0

20

40

60

80

100

Non-child laborers

Parents

Relatives

Government

Table 13.1.2: Expectation from employers

Non-child laborers % Child laborer %

Not to be make children work in

hazardous work

5 Provide light work 5

Safe & hazard-free working

environment

32 Risk & danger-free working

environment

25

Friendly and congenial working

environment

12 Fair, unbiased and friendly

working place

9

Fair wages 5 High salary & more holidays 7

Good behavior 6 Good behavior 5 (Q to non-child laborers: ‘What are your expectations from the employers if you ever join some form of work in the

immediate future?’ Q to child laborers: ‘What are your expectations from your employers?’ Multiple response)

13.2 Expectations of parents of child laborers and non-child laborers, and Care-takers Parents of child laborers and non-child laborers have somewhat similar expectations from the govt. and other authorities regarding assistance for their children’s future. Amongst many, free education and financial assistance for education has been mentioned commonly by respondents from all three segments, as can be seen in Table 13.2.1 below. This strengthens the earlier finding where it was observed that a higher percentage of the parents/ guardians of child laborers consider education as an expensive investment.

Table 13.2.1: Expectations from govt. and other authorities regarding

their children and children‟s future

Parents of non-

child laborers

(%)

Parents of

child laborers

(%)

Care-takers

(%)

Free education for all 33 28 40

Financial assistance for

education

17 41 40

Increase employment

opportunities

14 22 -

Set-up more educational

institutions

12 - 9

Technical training assistance - - 26

Provide education along with

work

- - -

(Q: „What are you expectations from the govt. and other authorities regarding your children and their future?‟

Multiple response)

The parents/guardians of child laborers and parents/guardians of non-child laborers were asked about their expectations from their children. Through focus group discussions held with these two groups, some collective responses were gathered regarding the above matter.

The fathers of child laborers, who are working as rickshaw-pullers, or as helpers in buses, or as masons, are averse to their sons taking up the same profession when they grow up. One of the participants in the FGD held with the parents of child laborers in Dhaka commented, ‘I work as a mason, I know how difficult and challenging this job is. I don’t want my son to adopt this profession. I want him to understand that this job is risky and dangerous. I want him to go back to the village if required and do something decent for a living, but not follow me into this line of job.’ This indicates to the parent’s mentality of safeguarding their children from risk and danger. Being honest and ethical is also a characteristic that the parents/guardians expect these children to acquire. A guardian of a non-child laborer stated, ‘I want these children to feel the need to remain honest no matter what the circumstances are. When they grow up, they will have the right to adopt any profession they want, but if their morality is grounded in honesty, then they will never stray.’ From daughters, parents expect obedience and sincerity. Some of the parents of non-child laborers mentioned their hope about their daughters achieving higher education. One of the participants from the FGD held with parents of non-child laborer mentioned, ‘I hope my daughter lives up to my dream of seeing her in a good, well paid job in the future. I am trying as much as I can to provide her with the necessary education, I expect her to remember what I want from her in exchange.’ Parent’s expectation from children is determined largely by the socio-economic conditions surrounding their families. Many of the parents/guardians of child laborers indicated towards their financial inability as a major reason why their expectations may remain unfulfilled. ‘I never wanted my children to start working at such a young age. But I am helpless, we have no other options. In order to survive, they will have to earn and fend for themselves. I wanted them to study, but I don’t think all that will be possible ever,’ said a parent of child-laborer. With regards to specific expectation of assistance from employers, listed in Table 13.2.2 below, most of the child laborer and non-child laborer’s parents stated that they expected the employers to provide a riskless and safe environment for their children while they are at work. They also anticipate an increase in the wages of their children; timely payment of wages; and good conduct of behavior of the employers etc. Care-takers are very conscious about the laws pertaining to child-labor in the country. They expect that employers should not give any work to a child laborer after the end of the designated hours of work in a day. Care-takers also mentioned that employers should not allow children to work in unhealthy & risky environments. Table: 13.2.3 below lists down the specific expectations that Care-takers and care-taking organizations have from employers.

Table 13.2.2: Parents‟ expectations from the employers of child laborers

Control (%) Urban (%) Rural(%)

Parents

of non-cl

Parents

of cl

Parents

of non-cl

Parents

of cl

Parents

of non-cl

Parents

of cl

Risk-free and safe

environment

39 31 40 32 32 33

Congenial environment

for the children to work

11 11 18 15 21 16

The wages should be

increased

- 6 - 9 - 9

They should pay the

wages on time

11 5 10 8 7 8

The children shouldn‟t be

made to do heavy work

- 3 - 7 - 6

Employers should behave

well

9 19 5 6 6 10

(Q: ‘What are your expectations about your children from their employers?’ Multiple response)

Table 13.2.3: Care-takers expectation from employers of child laborers

%

No work after end of a work day 29

Provide facilities to make work easier 11

No work in unhealthy & risky environment 40

No hazardous work 29

Fair wage labor and pay on time 14

Follow child labor related laws 9

Good manners with child laborers 15

Provide medical and treatment facilities 9 (Q: ‘What are your expectations for the child laborers who come to your drop-in centers from their employers?’

Multiple response)

The type of work in which parents allow or will allow their children to be involved in also says a lot about the type of expectation they hold about their children and their future. Parents/Guardians from both segments were asked about the type of work in which they will allow their boys less than 14 years of age to be involved at, Figure: 13.2.1 below shows the findings pertaining to this indicator. It is quite interesting to notice that most of the parents of non-child laborers will not allow boys of this age to work in any type of job, showing high level of awareness pertaining to the laws/legislation of the country. Meanwhile, most of the care-takers stated that boys aged less than 14 years should not work and they ought to study. Table 13.2.4 below lists out some of the statements mentioned.

Figure 13.2.1: Types of work in which parents/guardians

will allow boys less than 14 years age to be involved in

(Q: ‘In what kind of work will you allow your sons aged less than 14 years to be involved in?’

Multiple response)

Table 13.2.4: Types of work in which care-takers think

boys less than 14 years age can be involved in

(%)

They ought to study, not work 31

Will not permit to do anything 26

Book shop keeping 14

Household chores 11

Paper hawking 9

Light work 6 (Q: ‘In what kind of work do you think boys aged less than 14 years can be allowed to be involved in?’ Multiple

response)

Parents/Guardians and care-takers were also asked about the type of work in which they would allow their girls aged less than 14 years to be involved. Most of the respondents from the parents/guardians segment mentioned that girls of this age should be engaged in household chores. This could be attributed to our cultural ideology in which girls are deemed to be more appropriate for undertaking household chores. Based on the responses received from the parents/guardians it can be inferred that while girls are associated with activities such as tailoring or handicrafts, boys are expected to be involved in shop-keeping and business and study further. The social norms that are established in our culture largely dictate the kind of expectations that parents/guardians form about their children. Figure: 13.2.1 below lists down some of the highest mentioned statements regarding the above matter.

21

43

7 7

14

9

19

14

They ought to study, not work

Will not permit to do anything

Shopkeeping Household chores

Parents of NonCL Parents of CL

Figure 13.2.2: Types of work in which parents/guardians

will allow girls less than 14 years age to be involved in

(Q: ‘In what kind of work would you allow your daughters aged less than 14 years to be involved in?’ Multiple

response)

26% of the Care-takers hold the perception that girls aged less than 14 years should not be permitted to do any type of work, whilst a 23% also feel that such girls should study and not work. As also observed with responses derived from the parents/guardians segment, 29% of the caretakers think girls less than 14 years of age can be involved in household chores, if need be. Table: 13.2.5 below lists down the details pertaining to the matter.


girls less than 14 years age can be involved in

%

Household chores 29

Will not permit to do

anything

26

They ought to study, not

work

23

Handicrafts 14

Tailoring 9

Cottage industry work 9 (Q; ‘In what kind of work do you think girls aged less than 14 years can

be allowed to be involved in?’ Multiple response)

When the same question was put to the parents/guardians and care-takers, but for children aged between 15-18 years, responses derived were slightly different. Whilst 23% of the parents/guardians of non-child laborers still hold the view that boys even within the age range of 15-18 years shouldn’t be permitted to be involved in any type of

2419

39

49

13 12

Household chores They should study at this age, not work

Will not permit to do any work

Parents of NonCL Parents of CL

work, 17% of the parents/guardians of child laborers deem that boys of this age can work as shopkeepers, as can be seen from Table: 13.2.6 below.

Table 13.2.6: Types of work in which parents/guardians

will allow boys between 15-18 years of age to be involved in

Types of work Parents of non-

child laborer(%)

Types of work Parents of child

laborer (%)

Light work 10 Light work 9

They should study, not

work

16 They should study,

not work

6

Will not permit any

kind of work

23 Permit all types of

work

11

……………… … Household chores 6

Shop keeping 8 Shop keeping 17 (Q: ‘In what kind of work will you allow your sons aged between 15-18 years to be involved in? Multiple response)

The dominant perception held by the Caretakers about boys aged 15-18 years is that they should be studying, not working, which is not very dissimilar to their perception about boys aged less than 14 years. However, similar to what parents/guardians of child laborers perceive, 17% of the caretakers hold the view that boys within this age range can work as shopkeepers (stated by 17%). Specific responses mentioned by respondents from this segment are mentioned below in Table: 13.2.7.


boys between 15-18 years of age can be involved in

Characteristics Care-takers (%)

They should study, not work 26

Shop keeping 17

Household chores 11

Electrical work 12

Industrial work 9

Hawker (paper, water, fish) 9

Light work 6

Shopping 6 (Q: ‘In what kind of work do you think boys aged between 15-18 years

can be allowed to be involved in?’ Multiple response)

13.3 Employer’s expectations from the society and the government Employers of child laborers expect assistance with creating a safe and risk-free working environment for child laborers and also in having peaceful, productive working environment.

Table 13.3.1: Assistance expected by employers

%

Assistance with creating a safe working

environment for the children

19

Assistance in creating a peaceful and stress-free

environment

9

Assistance in establishing a productive working

environment

5

(Q: ‘What kind of assistance/help do you wish to receive from the govt. and other relevant institutes?’

(Multiple response)

According to many of employers, boys who are aged less than 14 years should ideally be studying, not working. However, this only contradicts their practice of employing children of the same age. Table 13.2.2 below lists some of the types of work that employers think is not at all appropriate for boys aged less than 14 years.

Table 13.3.2: Type of work in which employers think boys

less than 14 years of age can be allowed to be involved in

%



Grocery shop keeping 7

Household chores 8

Shop keeping 6

Light work 9 (Q: ‘In what kind of work do you think boys aged less than 14 years


Girls less than 14 years of age, on the other hand, should ideally be involved in household chores, as is perceived by the employers. Table: 13.3.3 below lists some of the types of work that employers think are not at all appropriate for girls aged less than 14 years.

Table 13.3.3: Type of work in which employers think girls

less than 14 years of age can be allowed to be involved in

%

Household chores 32



Tailoring 6

(Q: ‘In what kind of work do you think girls aged less than 14 years


According to the employers, boys aged between 15-18 years can be involved in light work. For girls within the same age frame, household chores and tailoring are deemed to be the most appropriate forms of job.

(Q for Table: 13.3.4: ‘In what kind of work do you think boys aged between

15-18 years can be allowed to be involved in?’ (Multiple responses)

Q for Table: 13.3.5: ‘In what kind of work do you think boys

aged between 15-18 years can be allowed to be involved in?’ Multiple response)

76% of employers do not support taking legal actions against those employers who employ child laborer as can be seen from Table: 13.3.6 below. As child laborers are cheap and easily available, the employers do not want to stop employing children. To defend themselves, 26% of these employers said children’s family will suffer financially if legal action is taken against employers of child laborers, followed by another 16% who commented that children will starve if they do not work and earn money. Figure: 13.3.7 below portrays some of these statements mentioned by the employers of child laborers.

Table 13.3.6: Employers who think legal action should not be

taken against those who employ child laborer %

Urban 76

Rural 78

Control 74

All 76 (Q: ‘Do you think legal action should be taken against employers who employ children?’ Yes/No, Single Code)

%


Shop keeping 8

Business 7

Light work 12

Light work besides education 5

%

Tailoring 13

Household chores 23

Garments work 11


Handicrafts 9

Light work 7

Table 13.3.4: Type of work in which employers think boys between 15-18

years of age can be allowed to be involved in

Table 13.3.5: Type of work in which employers think girls between 15-18

years of age can be allowed to be involved in

Figure 13.3.7: Reasons for not wanting legal action to be taken against

the employers of child laborers

(Q: ‘Why should legal action not be taken against employers of children?’ Multiple Response)

13.4 Expectation from the government and other authorities with regards to eliminating child labor from the society In order to eliminate child labor from the society, the needs and demands of the families from which child laborers are derived need to met. Table 13.4.1 below depicts some of the perceived circumstances under which parents/guardians think the nation will be able to eliminate child labor completely. Some common statements such as free education for all children and increasing awareness of people has been mentioned, and it is true that such steps can help in achieving a situation where all children will be studying and none will be working. Besides this, it will be extremely important to eradicate poverty and provide financial assistance to the poor families. Parents/guardians from both segments have mentioned that a stringent ban on employing child labor in the country should be put in place by the government. Many of the parents/guardians of child laborers and non-child laborers mentioned that although government is, by a large extent, responsible for the welfare of the children living in

12

24

2

16

18

8

16

15

17

8

13

14

10

14

9

11

12

4

17

10

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Urban (%)

Rural (%)

Control (%)

All (%)

If anyone needs to be punished it should be the parents of these children because they are the ones who bring their children to us begging us for employment

Poor families will be in huge financial debts and obligations if their children don't work and earn money

Employers do not force children to work, they come on their own accord

Children earn money for their poor families and taking action will stop this source of income

Poor children will starve if they can't earn money

poverty, the families of these children are also responsible for ensuring that the children have all the required conveniences for living a safe and healthy life. They commented that children firstly belong to the family, and then to the society. So families must be primarily held responsible for the outcome of the children.

Table 13.4.1: Perceived circumstances under which the nation can achieve a child

labor free situation

Parents of non-child

laborers (%)

Parents of child

laborers (%)

Free education to all

children

11 Free education to all

children

27

Increase awareness

regarding these

issues

11 Increase awareness

regarding these issues

12

Eradicate poverty 15 Eradicate poverty

18

If the govt. provides

assistance to the

families

14 If the govt. provides

assistance to the

families

19

Ban on employing

child laborers

8 Ban on employing

child laborers

9

………. …… Create job

opportunities for

families

6

……… …… Build more number

of educational

institutes

7

(Q: ‘Please tell us about the circumstances under which this country can achieve a child-labor free condition.’

Multiple response)

Parents of child laborers will be able to stop their child from being involved in work if a financial advancement is achieved by the family and if the family is relieved from all financial burdens such as loans, mortgages etc. Table: 13.4.2 below lists down some of the highest mentioned statements.

Table 13.4.2: Circumstances under which parents of child laborers will be able to

stop their children from being involved in child labor

Control % Urban% Rural % All %

If family is freed from all

financial crisis

8 25 11 21

If free education is

provided to children

20 14 17 15

If social and economic

development occurs to

the family

52 42 43 42

If govt. provides financial

assistance

2 15 17 15

Arrange jobs for

parents/family members

1 8 11 9

(Q: ‘Please tell us about the circumstances under which you can stop sending your children to work and send them

off to studying instead.’ Multiple response)

Most of the parents of non-child laborer (overall 53%) have expressed that prohibition on engaging children in any kind of job/labor could be a possible means through which child labor can be eliminated from the society. Although some laws/legislation pertaining to the above matter does exist, the weakness of the law is evident in the unmet expectation of the respondents, as it is evident from the findings in Table 13.4.3 below.

Table 13.4.3: Parents/guardians of children‟s (non-child laborer) perception on

how to eliminate child labor from the society

Control

(%)

Urban (%) Rural

(%)

All (%)

Prohibition to engage children with

any kind of job

74 52 57 53

Prohibition to engage children with

hazardous job

17 37 24 34

Employers should be punished 38 35 37 36

Free education for all children 67 67 64 66 (Q: ‘Please tell us about your opinion on how Child Labor can be eliminated from the country?’ Multiple response)

On the subject of whether or not a favorable environment exists in the country that supports implementation of child policy that eliminates child labor completely, diverging opinion has been expressed by the respondents from the

tertiary participant group. Public leaders have opined that there is in fact a positive environment present in the country that is conducive for implementation of such a child policy. The academics, on the other hand, are saying the contrary. However they also

“Positive environment has been created in Bangladesh

for implementing Child Labor Policy. No achievement

is possible in any task without everybody’s

participation, with everyone’s help and support we are

heading toward success.”

Respondents from the tertiary group

commented that a growing number of population are becoming more and more interested in eliminating child labor from the country. However, almost everyone commented that in order for perfect application of Child Policy in the country, some strong initiatives should be taken by the government and the NGOs. Employers have a corporate social responsibility to transform this country into a ‘child-labor free’ country. Without every one’s genuine participation child labor can never be eliminated from the root. Special emphasis has to be given on promoting awareness building program amongst the mass regarding eliminating child labor.

14.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Findings of this study show that children are expected to work so as to contribute to their family’s socio-economic welfare and/or for their own benefit. The prevalence of child labor was frequently described by FGD participants and KII respondents as “extensive or widespread”. While some respondents acknowledged that child labor is to some extent beneficial for needy children and families struggling to survive, most people interviewed look at child labor as dangerous for children. Commonly cited adverse effects of child labor were health related problems the children would be likely to face in the future due to being involved in heavy and strenuous activities (meant for older people) and the risky work environments that may lead to injuries or even death. The perception of children as easy to employ still prevails amongst employers. Respondents placed high importance to the role that the government should and can play in enhancing people’s welfare but also acknowledged the important contributions that families can make for ensuring a good and safe childhood for children. Therefore the nuclear and extended families and communities at large must be made to understand and play their roles in upbringing and supporting their own children as well as protecting them from abuse and exploitation. While it is a known fact that NGOs and Government operate differently though in a complementary fashion, for any of the two actors to make a meaningful contribution to the fight against child labor, the family (nuclear and extended) must be involved and enabled to understand and effectively play their roles in childhood development. Given that poverty is one of the critical challenges families face in the upbringing of children, complementary efforts to strengthen the family’s socio-economic capacity to be able to play their roles would yield good results if such efforts are well targeted. Findings further show that there is relatively less knowledge of laws regarding child labor. This point towards the need for further stepping up of sensitization campaigns against child labor highlighting the existing laws and conventions. Emphasis of the risks working children face, the missed opportunities while at work and the role of the extended family and the entire community has to also be made. This should call for identification as well as empowerment of community based structures and institutions including youth groups in schools and the community to report any cases of child labor and ensure that appropriate actions are taken.

Generally, more effort needs to be put in prevention of entry of children into child labor. All actors, government, and civil society should prioritize and implement interventions in education and sensitization about the dangers of child labor, and in building the capacity and ability of families and communities as a whole to work towards elimination of the push and pull factors into child labor and the consequences of entry. New structures will

need to be built as well, for instance, community level focal point persons at village/ward and union/municipality level, and in institutions such as schools, to work as peer educators, counselor aides, or care givers. The state, society, parents, and international agencies need to play complementary roles in eliminating child labor. The interests of different players in this area are of course often diametrically opposed. This implies that all parties will have to be prepared to give and take - a process that needs to be economically viable and ultimately in the interests of the children who do not have the maturity to decide for themselves. In Bangladesh, child labor cannot be considered in isolation from the socio-economic realities. This means that total and sudden elimination of child labor at any one point of time could threaten the delicate socio-economic balances of the less developed countries. But the price of child labor is continued illiteracy, backwardness, and ill-health as well as adult unemployment. Hence, sector-wise elimination in a phased manner is appropriate. Technical cooperation to governments, non-governmental organizations, and other agencies in this endeavor must be strongly promoted.

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