According to recent media reports children from poor families are employed in the industrial units of Narayanganj when these tender faces were supposed to lead a decent life, along with proper schooling. This unfortunate phenomenon of children’s right is widely prevalent in other parts of the country including the capital. Childhood is usually referred to as a “carefree” and “fun” phase by most of us but many children are not getting any education and lose their innocence and their childhood because of child labour. For them childhood as anything but traumatic.

These children see a very different childhood — if that is what it can be called — because of their living conditions; they go through child abuse at a very young age, they are discriminated against and they have no protection from society. It is evident that the state of child rights in the country is deplorable, to say the least.

Many child labourers work in the open under the scorching heat where they are not even allowed to take a brief respite from their hard work. The practice is also driven by economic necessity and the disincentive provided by a wholly inadequate schooling system, a situation that remains unchanged. The solution lies in setting up of more and more schools with free education for the children of the poor. Drastic measures need to be taken. There should be a governmental mechanism in place to ensure that parents get their children admitted in schools.

We need the government, the public, the civil society and NGOs to come together and do everything possible to rectify the situation. As a former secretary general of the UN, Kofi Annan, once said: “There is no duty more important than ensuring that children’s rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they can grow up in peace.”

With a major percentage of the population in Bangladesh are aged 15 or below, the government must take the issue of child rights seriously. The concerned authorities must that existing laws are fully implemented.

Children are the future of any society but the way some of us are treating ours is shameful and a disgrace for humanity. If we want our country to progress and move forward in the right direction, it is important that we protect child rights. By neglecting their rights, we are paving the way for a disastrous future for the country.