All children deserve an education – ultimately, it makes for a more able and productive workforce. In light of this, Bangladesh must start doing more to ensure that children in the nation are provided educational opportunities, instead of having to join the workforce at a young age.
With regard to child labour, Bangladesh has taken many initiatives to ensure that the practice is put to a stop in industrial settings. However, there have been no initiatives to put a stop to child employment in other economic settings (domestic, private, etc).
This is an issue that is central to children's rights, and has broader implications with regard to the country's economic future.
Yet, the number of child domestic workers, who generally remain uneducated, has increased in Bangladesh. And the trend seems likely to continue.
The system that we currently have creates a cycle where poverty and dependency are perpetuated.
If we were to take steps to change this system, and ensured that educational opportunities were provided to all young domestic workers, we would see a huge change in the demographic makeup of the nation.
Many have spoken about taking advantage of our "demographic dividend" – the fact that we have a growing working population. Now it is time to realise that the only way to really reap social and economic benefits from this phenomenon is to ensure that those coming of age have the education and skills required to really contribute to the nation's growth.