There are very few indicators as pronounced as the prevalence of child labour when it comes to gauging a nation’s credibility towards calling itself developed. To that end, a recent Dhaka Tribune story paints a dire picture, one of unchecked poverty and state inability leading to the inhumane practice being perpetuated without pause.
According to the report, the bustling industrial hubs of Jinjira and Kaliganj in Dhaka’s Keraniganj upazila does more than manufacture goods -- it grinds away the childhoods of thousands of minors. These places are nothing if not damning indictments of a national disgrace: Children, some as young as 11, operating heavy machinery, handling sharp tools, and working long hours for a pittance. Their small hands, scarred and weary, are a stark testament to our collective failure to protect the most vulnerable.
The root cause of child labour has always been abject poverty -- when a family’s survival hangs in the balance, a child’s education becomes an unaffordable luxury. Poverty provides the push, and unscrupulous factory owners, eager to maximize profits with cheap, compliant labour, provide the pull -- a child can be paid a fraction of an adult’s wage, or worse, nothing at all under the guise of learning a trade.
This is nothing if not a perversion of economic logic.
Of course, it would be unfair to ascribe this entirely to economic reasons. The government has a big part to play when it comes to deterring child labour through the use of the law, as Bangladesh’s Labour Act of 2006, amended in 2018, is clear in its prohibiting employment under 14 and hazardous work under 18. However, laws are nothing when left to exist only on paper, as enforcement is virtually non-existent in the vast informal sector.
It goes without saying the government must move beyond symbolic raids and establish a robust, permanent monitoring mechanism for industrial hubs and the informal sector. Penalties for violations must be severe and strictly enforced. Similarly, our social safety net programs must be strengthened to support families so that they are not forced to rely on their children’s income.
The stolen childhoods of the children of Jinjira are a stain on our national conscience. While we may never wash it away, we can use it to remind ourselves of what needs to be done.
