Islam
match factory, transport sectors, brick-field, dyeing factory, tannery factory and
printing press sectors are the direct victims of such polluted environment.
Disabled children
According to WHO report, about 10% of total populations of Bangladesh are
the victim of physical disability, hearing impairment, intellectual disability,
visual impairment and speech and communication disorder. It is thought that
ignorance and wrong beliefs, scarce of resources and lack of proper initiatives
are responsible behind such disabilities. It is very difficult to say the exact figure
of disabled children in Bangladesh. But according to a survey conducted on 10
thousand children, 1.6% children are the victims of disability. Of them, the figures
of disability were more in the intellectual disability category followed by visual
impairment and epilepsy.
Education for all
According to official statistics, though 86% children enroll their name with the
educational institutions, 40% children drop out before completion of primary
education (GOB, 1998: 171). Another statistics show that out of 17.50 million, a
totalchildrenofsixtotenyearsoldabout0.25million(14%)cannotgetopportunity
to enroll their names with schools and they get involved in child labour.
According to a study finding, attendance of students at schools is declined and
the rate of drop out is increased if the standards of teaching methods are declined.
A total of 38% male and 37% female children drop out due to the low quality of
teaching method in our country (BSAF, 2003:34). According to the study report,
a total of 81% male and 84 % female children enrolled their names at the schools
(BSAF, 2003:34). It is to be noted here that the rate of enrolment of both male and
female children was 79% in 1996 (UNICEF, 1997:80).
Street children
There is no exact figure of such children in the country. But according to some
surveys conducted on divisional towns and districts, reports reveal that the figure
of street children is not so small. According to a government’s survey report, there
are 4, 45,266 street children at the six metropolitan cities of the country (GOB,
2005:10). This was conducted in cooperation of the UNDP in 2001. According to
another survey reports conducted by BIDS on 11 big towns of the country in 2004,
there are a total of 4, 29, 813 street children. Of them, 3, 89, 892 children (90.7%)
are of 6 divisional towns and 39, 921 children (9.3%) were of 5 district towns
(Chowdhury, 2005:15). According to the BIDS report, the total figure of street
children would be 6,82,882 children throughout the country. It is to be noted here
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