In a recent opinion poll, around 62% of the participating children stated that child rights were overlooked by political aspirants and leaders of the country as children did not vote.
A total of 70% urban and rural children mentioned that their rights, especially of the poor children, were overlooked, according to a press statement of Unicef released yesterday.
More than 90% of the children of Bangladesh are aware of their rights, it said.
The survey revealed that these children feel discriminated in various dimensions including their right to food, education, health, work and freedom of opinion. These discriminations “are generally practised at home by siblings, spouses, and parents,” read the report.
The poll titled “Children’s Opinion Poll 2013: Children’s Views and Expectations from Political Aspirants and Leaders in Bangladesh,” was conducted by Unicef under a joint project with the Ministry of Information with support from Save the Children, ActionAid, Plan International, World Vision, Child Rights Governance Assembly and the National Children’s Task Force.
“Children constitute 40% of the total population of Bangladesh, but their voices are often never heard or are neglected,” said Unicef Representative Pascal Villeneuve.
“This opinion poll was conducted to bring the voices of children in the forefront and to encourage the inclusion of a ‘Children’s Contract’ or children’s agenda in election manifestos. We believe that the findings of the poll will promote the formulation and implementation of child sensitive policies in Bangladesh,” he said.
Majority of the urban and rural children said they were not getting adequate healthcare services while 84% of the children opined that their families could not afford it.
Children of geographically isolated areas, including tea gardens and hard-to-reach areas such as haor, coastal areas and the Chittagong Hill Tracts, also referred to the unavailability and inaccessibility of healthcare facilities.
The political leaders were urged to play a proactive role to ensure quality education, establish more schools in remote areas, develop school infrastructure, recruit better-qualified teachers, stop corporal punishment.
On corporal punishment, 81% of the children opined that teachers’ accountability must be ensured to stop corporal punishment and 77% of both urban and rural children said enforcement of the law would be useful to stop corporal punishment in schools.
As for ensuring entertainment, 83% mentioned about building playgrounds in communities, 73% stressed the need for cultural organisations in the community, followed by having parks, libraries, and zoos.
A large portion said they felt insecure during hartals as they could not leave their houses while 71% complained that hartals disrupted their schooling.
A total of 333 children, from a sample size of 4,200 (equally divided into urban and rural areas, and boys and girls in seven divisions), completed an online survey which was open for a month.