Govt. must be firm against child labour

Life can be harsh and cruel for a child when the world abuses him without the slightest of remorse. Child labour is one such abuse. Although the government has pledged to eliminate child labour by 2015, in reality it is far from being achieved. Bangladesh passed a Labour Law setting the minimum legal age for employment at 14 in 2006. But the authorities concerned seem to have no headache to apply the law. Since the most obvious reason of child labour is poverty, which compels the parents to send their children to jobs than to schools, it is almost impossible to reduce child labour without eradicating poverty.

The government should impose strict restrictions on involving child labour in some hazardous jobs like ship breaking and recycling operations, prostitution, manufacturing, mining, stone welding, van pulling, electrical work and others. Awareness raising programmes should be run by the government and the media intensively. Schooling for all children must be ensured through incentives and strict monitoring, and creation of income generating opportunities for the parents should be given priority so that the poor parents don't need to rely on their children's income.  

Manabika Debnath
Dept. of Marketing
Begum Rokeya University