The UK Bangladesh Education Trust (UKBET) confronts the illegal employment of children in Sylhet, Bangladesh. The charity takes a holistic approach, tackling the underlying poverty that drives parents to send their children to work whilst bringing basic education and change into the lives of young boys forced into hazardous work and young girls into domestic labour. Over the past 7 years of this work the numbers of children employed have reduced and few if any siblings have followed their brothers and sisters into work as has been the pattern in the past. We are however very concerned that the consequences of COVID is undermining this trend.
We:
- identify employers undertaking hazardous work (paint spraying, welding etc) and who recruit children to these tasks. We persuade employers to release their working children several times a week to come to a local centre to learn literacy, numeracy, life skills, enjoy a nutritious meal.
- discourage employers from recruiting more children and help them improve health and safety conditions in their workshops
- identify girls undertaking domestic labour and persuade their employers to allow a teacher to visit their home to teach them literacy, numeracy and life skills.
- provide small grants to parents to enable them to create self employment and an income so that their children can stop work and go to school.
- provide medical camps for working children and their families
