Did you know that children from the age of 5-13 are working up to one hundred hours a week in Bangladesh? Around the world kids are working harsh hours and are exposed to conditions no kid she have to face at such a young age. In Bangladesh where the legal working age is 14, children from ages 5-13 are earning as much as two dollars a day from these exaggerated amount of hours. From the girls who are employed to work in the garment industry from boys who are working in factories, construction or selling good on the streets it is a non stop day of work for these kids. There are approximately 4.8 million children not enrolled in school who are working to help provide for their family. Many kids are in danger due to jobs such as the fish drying business where kids and adults deal with harsh chemicals that can cause skin problems, to ship breakers who are dealing with old ships while having limited to no protective gear. Dealing with these ships comes at a risk as they are not meant to be broken down, but ship breakers do it for the purpose of reselling pieces and earning money from it. To help tackle this problem, child labor laws should be enforced along with saving the children who are illegally working, out of the factories and out of work and enroll them into school so that the kids can get the proper education they need to be successful in the future.
The government and other non government initiatives are trying to help by building school and keeping costs low. Nationwide laws are requiring the primary schools attendance to help the banning of child labor, but most of the time setting these laws in place is difficult as the government does not having the necessary labor inspectors or other officials needed to enforce these laws. ( CREDS) When president Clinton was in office he visited the nation of Bangladesh and pledged to help by donating them 8.6 million to help end child labor, since 1995 he’s 9nearly taken out ten thousand children out of garment factories with what was known as the pilot program that helped out the kids into school. Additionally This program has supported a lot of families by the US paying families about 7 dollars a month which is slightly less than a child’s monthly wage if they keep their child out of the workforce and as well as pays for childrens nearby schooling.
In Bangladesh children are working 64 hours a week in Bangladesh in violation of that countries; labor laws. A survey was conducted and found that children as young as 6 years of age employed full time and others working up to 100 hours a week, on average from working thus muh kids earned less than 2 dollars a day. Girls who are employed are toiling in the garment industry. Boys jobs varied from working in factories, construction or selling goods on the streets. Where the legal age to work in Bangladesh is 14, although 12 and 13 year olds are permitted to do “light work” of up to 42 hours per week. In 2006, Bangladesh passed a labour law setting the minimum legal age for employment to be 14. Even though this is the law it is impossible to enforce this as at the time 93% of children were employed in small factories and other work. Even though this law was passed 12 and 13 year old are still being employed to do “light work” of 42 hours per week. In 2017, Bangladesh made a moderate advancement in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. The government extended its Child Labor National Plan of Action through 2021 an act that aims to remove the worst forms of child labour. The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments also provided comprehensive training to a majority of labor inspectors, and institutionalized the use of a factory inspection checklist that includes child labor components. However, children in Bangladesh work in dangerous environments that don’t provide the proper apparel to work in these harsh conditions, including forced child labor in the production of dried fish and bricks.
Children also perform dangerous tasks in the production of garments and ship breaking, when going to breakdown these ships they risk their lives as these ships were meant to last a long time. In addition, the labor law does not prohibit children from working in informal economic sectors, and does not specify the activities and number of hours per week of light work that are permitted for children ages 12 and 13. Households that do practice child labor are for the reasons of surviving or saving the costs for big brands outside of child labor. In rural Bangladesh among 27.4 million rural children in the 5-14 age group, at least 4.8 million children are not enrolled in school and a further 5.6 million combine both school and child labor. Government and non government initiatives are building schools and keeping costs low, and nationwide laws requiring primary school attendance and enforcing child labor laws. The shipbreaking industry or getting metal scraps pursued by workers using little to no safety equipment. Shipbreaking is the process of dismantling a ships entire structure for disposal or recycling.
The shipbreaking industry and its stakeholders have been under under scrutiny for sometime by international labor and and environmental organizations regarding all the harms that comes with ship breaking such as toxic and hazardous conditions produced from the shipwrecking practices. For the workers in the dry fish industry there are many dangers they face working in dry fish production such as the exposure to harmful chemicals applied to the fish, skin diseases from standing long hours in the cold, salty water while washing the fish, risk of cutting fingers on sharp knives or falling from tall pillars that must be climbed to hang the fish, and exhaustion from many hours.
Child labor is something that i have not been affected by as this is something that is not commonly happening in the US, laws are highly enforced in most of the us and am fortunate to not have to work at the age that i am currently at. President clinton pledged 8.6 million in the effort to help end child labor, since 1995 he has taken nearly 10,000 children out of the garment factories with the pilot program and put the into school room were they have to opportunity to have a successful future. This program supported a lot by the us pays families about 7 dollars a month which is slightly less than a child’s monthly wage if they keep their child out of the workforce and as well as pays for childrens nearby schooling. This seems to be working as the percentage of factories employing children has decreased in five years from about 60 to 10 percent.
The government doesn’t have the labor inspectors or other officials necessary to enforce them. She also says much of the work done by children is off the books in the informal sector, making it harder to regulate. New report from the Overseas Development Institute shows that child labor remains a significant problem in the South Asian country. Additionally Public education is free and compulsory only for elementary school. The cost of tuition is one of the main reasons poor families said they sent their 11, 12 and 13 year olds into the workforce instead of school because in the time they go to school to school to learn is time that could be used to get money to contribute to provide for their family. Laws that are being enforced are the seventh five year plan that aims toward the elimination of the worst forms of child labor, with a focus on child domestic workers and other vulnerable groups. Sets out actions to be taken by the government, including forming a policy for children working in the formal sector, providing assistance to street children to protect them from exploitation, coordinating the government and other stakeholders for effective rehabilitation, increased working children’s access to formal and non-formal learning, and provision of livelihood support to poor households with children.
As well as the child labor national plan of action that identify strategies to increase the access of education and health services raising social awareness, strengthening law enforcement and creating of new programs to stop child labor. The domestic workers protection and welfare policy sets the minimum age for domestic work at 14 years, however children between ages 12 and 13 can work as domestic workers with parental permission and do not go over the maximum work aroble to do. A way me and my peers can be involved is to stay aware and teach others of the problems that is going on. Additionally you can help by donating to programs that take out kids from working and enrolling them into school where they have a better chance to have a future by learning.
What I want the reader to get from reading this is just that, one needs to be aware of what’s going on in the world and if you can donate to help put children into schools. I also want the ready to get is that these kids that are working at young ages are working to survive and provide for their families, most not even knowing simple math or writing they would rather be sent out and ti work in these harsh and dangerous equipment, these jobs do not provide with the proper apparel to do jobs such as fish dryers and ship breakers and willing to risk their health in order to earn very little for working these harsh amounts of hours. For the people going to research this topic in the future, i suggest you look for more dates on when things have happened and the laws that are being put into place or put in place to address this problem. A question that has still not been answered is why can’t any more laws be enforced based on the age of when someone can start working and make it a higher age?
