If you are halted for a few minutes at a traffic signal in Dhaka or elsewhere you will see some children rushing to you and up to the windows of your car. Some of them carry bunches of flowers, some stack of books in the crook of their arms, some carry bundles of newspapers and some have candy for sale etc. They will try their best to draw your kind attention and sympathy for selling their goods. This painful scene is ubiquitous on streets of Dhaka. These street children are known as Pothoshishu. The street is where they earn their living.
'Street children' is a term for children experiencing homelessness who primarily reside on the streets of a city. The definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policymakers use UNICEF's concept of boys and girls, aged under eighteen years, for whom "the street" has become home and/or their source of livelihood, and who are inadequately protected or supervised.
Some street children, notably in more developed nations, are part of a subcategory called thrown-away children who have been forced to leave home. Thrown-away children are more likely to come from working class and single parent homes. Street children are often subject to abuse, neglect and exploitation. In Western societies, such children are sometimes treated as homeless children rather than criminals or beggars.
Actually we do not know the total number of street children in Bangladesh but it is estimated to be around 400,000. Almost half of these children live in Dhaka city alone. A very large number of these children are young girls. These female street children are especially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
In March, 2012 Unnayan Onneshan published a report titled "Social connection of the street girls in the context of Dhaka City, Bangladesh." The research shows that the majority of the street girls (37.50%) sell flowers for a living, 18.80% of these young girls are forced into prostitution, 6.25% work in the clothing industry, 6.25% become beggars, 12.50% start as shopkeepers and 6.25% are paper-hawkers.
Most women in Bangladesh are vulnerable to fall victim to abuse such as rape, murder, eve teasing, dowry and acid attacks. But these street children who spend their childhood under the open skies of Dhaka face such risks on a daily basis.
There are two main causes of the phenomenon of street children. The first is the economic stress and poor conditions that families face due to industrialization and urbanization and the second, cause is changes in the traditional family structure, especially when women become the main contributor to households' economies. There are many causes behind a children becoming a street children. Some common causes are cited below:
Extreme poverty:
Poverty is one of the main factors that force a child for being a street child. Extreme poverty makes them to be on street. Sometimes some children have to earn money for their family. They earn money by begging, carrying or bearing, car washing, drug trafficking, juggling, performing music, running errands, scavenging, sex work, shoe shining or vending.
Running away from home:
Many children feel that living on the streets is better than coping with problems in their homes. These problems can include conflicts with parents, physical or sexual abuse or neglect (e.g. an abandoned disabled child). Some children are forced to leave home by their families because the family does not approve of a child's behaviour or its consequences, e.g. pregnancy, homosexuality or substance use.
Family break-up:
Family break-up problem in our country is getting a bigger whereas once it was seen in the western countries mostly. If a family is shattered, all the members of the family will go to different places. Sometimes or actually most of the times children are the main victims of this problem. A child may not like to go with the members whom s/he doesn't like or who aren't nearest to them. So they will come to the road as a street child.
Affected by natural disasters:
Natural disaster is also responsible for being a street child. For natural disaster many people lose their shelter and many children become orphans. For that reason they have to take shelter on road and the children of the families become street children. River erosion also plays an important role in making children street children. Some families lose their land for river erosion and that makes them street families.
Missing from family or victim of child trafficking:
Sometimes some children go missing from their parents during visit to unknown places. If they are not found by the family, they become street children. Child trafficking is also a reason of being a street child. Some children are victim of intra-country trafficking. They are brought to city or town from village by telling that they will be provided with good jobs.
Step mothers/fathers:
It is a cause of being a child a street child. It is more like a family problem. Most of the time, we can see that if a family has step mother or father, a child must be a victim of it. As a step father or mother doesn't treat their step child as their own child, they torture them physically or mentally. Afraid of being tortured, some children run away from home and become street children or sometimes step fathers or mothers tell them to get lost from home.
Escaping from a children's institution:
Street children may feel that children's homes are 'like prisons'. They cannot adjust to rules after experiencing the freedom of the streets. Some children of these institutions may escape from these and become street children again. Some children may have been denied a chance to go to school or have dropped out of school and have nothing to do and become street children.
Government and society must address the issue seriously. Following recommendations may be considered in this regard.
A) An exclusive survey of street children can be conducted all over the country and a separate ministry for children only may be established. A separate child rights commission can be set up at national level that will solely work for children and their rights.
B) Rehabilitation programmes for the street-based children and orphans may be executed. Birth registration of every child including the children of sex workers may be ensured. Special facilities for the child health care, free medicine, and treatment for the street children may be provided.
C) Proper implementation and reformation of existing laws and policies can be made. Non-formal education programmes, programmes for enrolment in schools and programmes for vocational training may be considered.
D) Programmes for reintegration of children with their families and placement of destitute children in foster care homes/hostels and residential schools cane be implemented;
E) Programmes for occupational placement; for mobilizing preventive health services; for reducing the incidence of drug and substance abuse, HIV/AIDS etc.; for capacity building and for advocacy and awareness building on child rights can be undertaken.
It is a matter of great concern that an organised gang in Dhaka has forced about 500 children aged between 9-15, into pornographic videos for consumers in the west as reported very recently by a reputed English daily. These children were trapped with the promise of a better livelihood before being forced into pornography. About 95 per cent these children were picked up from the city streets and terminals. To stop this heinous crime it is imperative to track down the missing children and nab the offenders and to punish them severely. A trust for the welfare of the street children may be established without further delay.
The writer works at an organisation engaged in global marketing of seafood from Bangladesh. Email: bari@blacktigerint.com
Save street children
M H Bari | Published: September 06, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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