Title: Understanding children's work in Bangladesh
Abstract: Child labour constitutes an important obstacle to achieving universal primary education and other millennium development goals in Bangladesh. It not only harms the welfare of individual children, but also slows broader national poverty reduction and development efforts. Children forced out of school and into labour to help their families make ends meet are denied the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills needed for gainful future employment, thereby perpetuating the cycle of poverty. The current report provides an overview of the child labour phenomenon in Bangladesh its extent and nature, its determinants, and its consequences on education. The report also addresses the national response to child labour, and policy options for its elimination. The analysis considers the various causes of child labour and follows a cross-sectoral approach, especially in the identification of determinants and strategic options. Particular attention is given to the links between child labour and schooling and to the importance of child labour as a constraint to education for all. Three related objectives are served by the report: (1) to improve the information base on child labour, in order to inform policy and program design; (2) to promote policy dialogue on child labour and accelerated progress towards national child labour reduction targets; and (3) to promote regular child labour data collection and analysis. The remainder of the report is organized as follows. Section two outlines the process by which the report was developed. Section three briefly reviews the national context and the socio-economic conditions underlying the child labour phenomenon in the country. Section four present's descriptive data on the nature and extent of children's work and Section five assesses the sub-group of working children in child labour in accordance with international child labour measurement standards. Section six looks at the educational and health impact of child labour and section seven at factors influencing household decisions to involve their children in work rather than schooling. Section eight discusses the national response to child labour. Section nine looks at policy options for the progressive elimination of child labour.
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 3
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