47% workers in Keraniganj apparel hub are children: Study
Most of the child labourers there work for 13-16 hours in exchange for just board and lodging facilities, while almost 95% of them lack nutritious food, liveable environment and health protection
Around 47% of labourers working at the country's largest garment hub at Keraniganj, on the outskirts of the capital, are aged between 5 and 17 years, finds a survey conducted by the Bangladesh Labour Foundation.
"The hub accommodates some 7,500 apparel factories where a total of three lakh labourers are working. Of them, over 20,000 are aged between 5 and 14 years and some 1.2 lakh are between 15 and 17 years," Bangladesh Labour Foundation Deputy Director Mahmudul Hasan Khan said while presenting the study report at the foundation office in the capital on Thursday.
The hub meets local demands for 80% of clothing, in breach of the National Children Policy 2011 which identifies those aged under 18 years as children and says appointing children under 14-year-old to work is a punishable offence.
"Most of the child labourers at the hub work for 13-16 hours in exchange for just board and lodging facilities. Almost 95% of them lack nutritious food, liveable environment and health protection," Mahmudul Hasan added. He noted that the factories severely lack hygienic toilets, pure water, fresh air, daylight and fire safety methods.
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The survey also found that 4.2% of the children are completely illiterate, 5.5% only able to sign, 73.6% 5th-grade passed and 16.2% 6th to 8th-grade passed. About 48% of the child labourers work there as helpers or interns while 22% serve as operators, with the rest assisting in preparing yarns.
Labourers at the hub do not enjoy leave but serve on the basis of a "No Work, No Payment" policy. They earn some Tk5,000-Tk16,000 per month on average, it added.
"It is impossible to eradicate child labour at the garment hub as 80% of children come here having their back to the wall. The working and living environment at the hub is fragile, which the government should address at the earliest," said Abdus Salam, chairman of the Bangladesh Labour Foundation.
"Children who work in these factories are mostly from poor families and from outside Dhaka. They have been sent there to earn and support their families," he added.
Bangladesh Labour Foundation Secretary General AZM Kamrul Anam, and Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha Bangla Division Head Ruhul Amin Jyoti, among others, were present on the occasion.
