The number of child labour has increased in Jamalpur and Dinajpur over the years indicating deterioration of the overall economic condition of the people.

An estimated 20,000 child workers under 12 years of age are engaged in various odd jobs in Jamalpur to supplement the income of their poor parents.

These child labourers are working in hotels, brick fields, workshops, motor garages and at construction sites.

Besides, many of them serve as domestic aid in the houses of well-to-do people.

Destruction of houses and damage of crops by natural calamities like flood and drought compelled many parents to send their minor sons and daughters to work as day labour.

Old age of the parents is another factor for the increase in the number of child labour.

Many of the child workers suffer from malnutrition and various diseases as they are unable to manage nutritious food with their meagre income.

Overwork is also eating into the vitals of the child labour. Many have to put in physical labour for 12 hours a day at different work places. But their earnings are too little compared to their hard work.

Another report from Dinajpur adds: Mired in poverty, many poor parents of Dinajpur have been sending their minor sons to different work places to supplement their income for survival.

More than 30,000 children between 7 and 15 age group are engaged in many risky jobs in different upazilas of the district. They work in crop fields, hotels, brick fields, bidi factories, private houses and at construction sites.

Many child workers pull rickshaws and push carts from morning to night to support themselves and their poverty stricken families.

The owners of establishments prefer child labour to adults because the services of the former can be utilised for more hours with little wages.

A large number of young boys and girls are engaged in bidi and welding factories and workshops in Dinajpur town and other areas in the district. They have to work at these organisations with great risk to their health.

Most of the children working in bidi factories always suffer from cough and lung diseases. Some are even afflicted with tuberculosis. The owners of bidi factories often express their reluctance to bear the medical expenses of their workers.

In many houses, young boys and girls work as domestic help only in exchange for meals and clothes and no wages.

Child workers are also hired by the land owners to tend cattle, till lands, harvest paddy, sow seed and to do many other hard work.

But the wages paid to them after day long hard work are not compatible with the labour they put in from sun rise to dusk.