The more we hear of a malady or scourge, our sensibilities about it tend to dull. There comes a point when we might feel resigned to its recurrence. That may be the case with newspaper readers, radio listeners and TV watchers. But when the authorities whose responsibility it is to contain or eliminate the malaise should themselves show an attitude of resignation that can hardly be condoned.
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prohibited from employment. Any industry or factory owner taking underage children in will be in breach of law, basically committing a punishable offence. But has anybody heard of any recalcitrant employer being punished. Even given the fact that in our economic conditions, child labour is perhaps an evil that we cannot rid ourselves of too easily, but at least, what we can do is to stymie child labour in life threatening professions.
That, as many as 25 factories could spring up at Keraniganj to produce stove burners largely through the labour of children handling dangerous acid solutions is a ringing indictment on the incompetence of the regulatory authorities. We think, the directorate of labour and the office of the inspector of factories should be directed to take stock of the situation and report to the higher authorities for instructions in a bid to make sure that at least all safety precautions are in place with an added provision for literacy and skill training among the youngsters thereby grooming them up for future employment.
This is what seems to have happened with the revelatory reports of the recurring child labour abuses. Where it gets particularly abhorrent is when underage children are engaged in physically and mentally hazardous avocations with routine regularity. That too, without registering their names so as to evade any accountability if that will be enforced at all. On paper, children below 14 years of age are
prohibited from employment. Any industry or factory owner taking underage children in will be in breach of law, basically committing a punishable offence. But has anybody heard of any recalcitrant employer being punished. Even given the fact that in our economic conditions, child labour is perhaps an evil that we cannot rid ourselves of too easily, but at least, what we can do is to stymie child labour in life threatening professions.
The children have been slogging for 12 to 15 hours a day without mandatory eye glasses, hand gloves and masks for an outrageous sum of Tk 250-300 in a week. The ethical and health issues are intertwined here. Why must they be subjected to such inhuman treatment taking advantage of their economic privations?
That, as many as 25 factories could spring up at Keraniganj to produce stove burners largely through the labour of children handling dangerous acid solutions is a ringing indictment on the incompetence of the regulatory authorities. We think, the directorate of labour and the office of the inspector of factories should be directed to take stock of the situation and report to the higher authorities for instructions in a bid to make sure that at least all safety precautions are in place with an added provision for literacy and skill training among the youngsters thereby grooming them up for future employment.
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