1,068,212 children involved in hazardous labour: BBS

The number of children engaged in hazardous child labour was 1,068,212 (2.7 per cent) in 2022, According to the provisional report of the National Child Labour Survey 2022 released Wednesday.

However, the number has declined significantly in the country as it has been possible due to various initiatives taken by the government to eradicate child labour from Bangladesh. The number used to be 1,280,195 (3.2 per cent) in 2013.

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) formally published the provisional report on "National Child Labour Survey 2022 under "National Child Labour Survey 2022" at a simple ceremony held at the auditorium of the BBS.

Planning Minister MA Mannan spoke at the function as the chief guest while Labour and Employment Secretary Md Ehsan-E-Elahi and Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary Dr Shahnaz Arefin spoke as special guests.

Matt Cannell, Deputy High Commissioner and Development Director of the British High Commission and Tuomo Poutiainen, Country Director, ILO, Dhaka, Bangladesh spoke at the program as the guests of honour.

Md Matiar Rahman, Director General (Additional Secretary), BBS presided over the event while Deputy Director General of BBS Parimol Chandra Basu gave the address of welcome.

Deputy Director of BBS Saddam Hossain Khan made a power-point presentation on the findings of the survey.

The objectives of the national child labour survey 2022 were to identify the number of working children and children engaged in child labour and hazardous child labour and to obtain information on the child population according to various sectors, sexes, locations and households with children.

Apart from this, an idea about the educational attainment status of the child population will be obtained.

Analysing the results of the National Child Labor Survey 2022. It can be seen that the number of children aged 5-17 years is 39,964,005 or 39.96 million. Among them, the number of working children is 3,536,927 (8.9 per cent) and children engaged in child labour is 1,776,097 (4.4 per cent), and hazardous child labour is 1,068,212 (2.7 per cent) respectively.

 Where the 2013 Child Labour Survey found that the number of children aged 5-17 years was 39.652,384, among them working children was 3,450,369 (8.7 per cent) and children engaged in child labour was 1.698,894 (4.3 per cent), and hazardous child labour was 1,280,195 (3.2 per cent).

A comparison of the results of the National Child Labor Survey 2013 and 2022 shows a slight increase in the number of working children and children engaged in child labour in 2022 compared to 2013. This increase is insignificant compared to the population growth in the last ten years.

Speaking on the occasion as the chief guest, the planning minister said that the people of the country now want development, drinking water, sanitation and better school while the government has been working to ensure such facilities.

Labour and Employment Secretary Md Ehsan-E-Elahi said that it was a matter of satisfaction that the hazardous child labour has been declining in the country. He said that the Ministry of Labour and Employment in support of different NGOs has been working to eliminate child labour in the country.

Ehsan informed that a Taka 2,500 crore project is being framed to eliminate child labour in the country as well as to ensure their rehabilitation. He was also hopeful of getting final approval for the project within three months.

"We'll be able to eliminate child labour in the country from all sectors," he added.

According to the latest NCLS 2022, 51.79 per cent (20,698,077 or 20.70 million) are male children, and the remaining 48.21 per cent (19.265,375 or 19.27 million) are female children. The number of working children is 3,536,927 (3.54 million), comprising 2,734,044 male children and 802,883 female children.

Male children are 1,374,154, and female children are 401,943 out of the 1.776.097 (1.77 million) children engaged in child labour. Similarly, out of the 1,068.212 (1.07 million) children in hazardous child labour, the number of male children is 895,195 (0.90 million), and the number of female children is 173,017 (0.17 million), respectively.

It is expected that the findings of this report will be pivotal for planners, policymakers and other stakeholders in formulating policies to eliminate child labour from Bangladesh by 2025. More details of this survey will be available after the main report is published.

/KN/