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School dropouts in the country has increased alarmingly as huge child marriages and child labour have taken place amid the pandemic, speakers at a webinar on Monday said.
Such trend is leading towards some serious socio-economic crisis, they said and suggested for social protection of the schoolgoers, creating awareness and proper implementation of the relevant laws in this regard.
The webinar on 'bringing children back to schools in post-pandemic' era was jointly organised by the Citizen's Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh and the Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF).
Convenor of the Citizen's Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Executive Director of MJF Shaheen Anam, former caretaker government advisor Rasheda K Chowdhury and Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Professor Mustafizur Rahman spoke at the virtual event.
Shaheen Anam presented a keynote paper before the audience.
According to it, 4.3 per cent of children (between the ages of 5 and 14) in Bangladesh are currently engaged in hazardous work.
It said MJF rapid survey conducted in 21 districts during lockdown revealed 13,000 girls were married at age ranging from 10 to 17 years.
The scenario is alarming as per newspaper reports after schools reopened in September 2021, it also said.
According to the keynote, many parents resorted to child marriages as a coping mechanism against their vulnerabilities since they faced income losses while there was lax monitoring by the law enforcers.
Many children entered the workforce for the first time to help support their families during Covid, the keynote said adding that the children had to join work because their families didn't have enough food.
An MJF survey revealed that 2,400 children were forced into hazardous work with lower wages than before, said the paper.
"2,500 working children who were previously enrolled in primary schools with MJF partner support went back to work due to financial crisis of their families," the paper mentioned.
Dr Debapriya Bhatta-charya said around 10-12 per cent girls become victim to the early marriage. This is obviously a huge social crisis, as well as an economic problem, he said.
The pandemic has led to job loss or loss of income for many families, the speakers said. A job loss is one of the worst financial shocks most of the families have faced.
These families had to reduce either protein intake or curtailed menu or number of meals in a day causing malnutrition among the children, they added.
CPD Distinguished Fellow Prof Mustafizur Rahman said there are 15 social welfare related ministries, whose budgetary allocation comprises 20 per cent for children.
Proper implementation of that budgetary allocation can address the problems of the children to some extent, he suggested.
Rasheda K Chowdhury drew the attention of media to create awareness.
She noted that girls who get married off cannot avail the stipend. Therefore it is necessary to ensure at grassroots level that all girls get this benefit equally, she added.