Children are not treated with care

More than 82 percent of the country's urban children aged 14 and below experience physical punishment or “psychological aggression”, according to a survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

Of them, 17.6 percent are victims of severe physical punishment. 

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The survey of over 20,000 urban households was conducted between February and April with support from the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). The key findings of it titled “Child well-being survey in urban areas of Bangladesh 2016” were made public at a seminar at Hotel Sonargaon in the capital yesterday.

Screaming, yelling and shouting were considered as psychological aggression in the survey, said Shantanu Gupta, monitoring and evaluation specialist at the Unicef.

Respondents were presented with questionnaires asking them what measures they had taken to discipline their children in the last one month. Only 13 percent children were found to have been “disciplined” through non-violent means.

In slums of city corporation areas, 84.9percent children are victims of violence while 81.9percent outside slums also face violence.

NUTRITION STATUS

In terms of nutrition, the study found more than one in four under-five children in urban areas stunted.

The picture in the city's slums is grimmer with 40percent children stunted while 25percent children outside slums are malnourished.

CHILD MARRIAGE

Early marriage, according to the survey, is still high with 59.7 percent of women between 20 and 49 stating that they were married before 18. The survey also found one in three girls aged between 15 and 19 married.   

Sylhet has the least percentage of child marriage at 40.4 percent while Khulna has the worst scenario with 65.9percent girls getting married before 18.

OTHER INDICATORS

On average, three in five births take place in presence of skilled birth attendants. In slum areas, 56 percent births are overseen by skilled birth attendants while it is 74 percent outside slums.

Primary school attendance considered by the study as one of the main indicators of the education sector was 86 percent in urban areas. Slums lag behind with 71 percent attendance.

The study also found that only 18.9 percent slum households had access to improved sanitation while the percentage was 51.3 outside slum areas.

More than eight percent urban children between 5 and 14 were found to be child labourers. The number goes up to a significant 14.3 percent in slums.