Child labour and development parameter

The multiple indicator cluster survey (MICS) carried out by the Bangladesh Bureau of statistics (BBS) has presented an alarming picture of child labour and various negative aspects related to it. As high as 9.2 per cent children in the age bracket of 5-17 are compelled to perform tasks requiring physical labour. This is an increase of 2.4 percentage points in child labour from 2019's 6.8 per cent. The worsening child labour picture -- including their exposure to hazardous works -- in the country over the past six years should sound the alarm bell ringing. Rise in child labour is no isolated spectre because its correlation with other development indicators is strong. Child health, education, water and sanitation and several other human development indicators are closely tied to this issue. Child labour here is a consequence of deterioration of all such human development indicators.

In plain terms, increase in child labour means more families have become poorer and more vulnerable to the extent where school dropouts have risen in number, malnutrition has worsened, child marriage gone up and population growth gaining further to negate achievements on the economic and development fronts. While the country failed to arrest inflation and misdirected social safety network programme fell short of the intended objective, donors' assistance also dropped significantly. The combined impact imperilled the lives and livelihoods of the poor and marginal segments of society. Unemployment and drop in purchasing power pushed more people below the poverty line as corroborated by several other studies. That is an indication of the yawning social divide with a select group called oligarchs making the most of the archaic management of national wealth. The result is wasting of children on account of severe malnutrition.

Immediately after the pandemic, shrinkage of funds from donors and inadequate mobilisation of domestic funds were responsible for many of the programmes for the poor including those for the Rohingya. But one of the less noticed one is the family planning programme. Family planning services at the level of vulnerable population had to be curtailed leading to undesirable pregnancies and their attendant ills such as a lack of care for mothers and the newborn. Increased wasting from 9.8 per cent in 2019 to 12.9 per cent is indeed a cause for serious concern. A combination of all these factors has given rise to a vicious cycle of higher birth rate among the poor, malnutrition and wasting or stunted growth, illiteracy or early dropouts and unemployment or low-paid wage.

These problems have been further exacerb ated by exposure to lead, a harmful metal. In fact, both children and adults fall victim to exposure to metals like lead, chromium and cadmium---in urban setting through air pollution and in rural areas through soil and water contamination. However, children irrespective of their social standing are more vulnerable to these metals. When underage children have to work in lathe factories, they suffer the worst. Child labour is, therefore, linked to factors that contribute to development parameters. After 54 years of independence, the existence of this kind of outrageous disparity in society is undesirable. It also poses a threat to social integration, economic prosperity and inclusive development.