'Street Children'

Making a Little Space, Making it a Better Place

The location is ‘Rabindra Sharobor’ at Dhanmondi in Dhaka, a happening place for hang out. A boy aging 12/13 with dirty and ragged clothes is moving from people to people who come there, and begging for some money. One young man, who is a regular person to come there and knows that boy, gives him two taka; but that boy refuses to take that. He wants more saying that, “only two taka! Give me five taka. I want to have a cup of tea. Two taka isn’t sufficient for buying a cup of tea.” That young man says laughing, “buy a candy with that two taka.” But that boy again refuses to take that note of two taka saying, “you all r having tea, I want to have some. And two taka nowadays is nothing. You have to give me five taka.”

This is the story of a street child whose name is Rajib, a poor little boy who spends his days on the streets of the capital city of Dhaka. He has got a family, which is quite like having no one in the world. Because, no one is interested to take any care of whatever he is doing. He has got some friends around who are just like him, the street children. Rajib already has experienced so much in his life already in this very early age. It is a very common scenario in this city, like Rajib there are many other boys and girls in this city who are just fated to be on the streets.

Picture: a street child on the left, and on the right a mobile school for primary education for the street children.

Photo credit: Rashed and facebook group “street children –  Bangladesh’ vs. Child rights”

Rajib lives on a street area at Rayerbazar of Dhanmondi with his family consisting of his father and an elder brother. His mother died at time he was born. His father is a begger. And, to help support his family like his elder brother instead of going to school he was forced to look for earning some money that he could manage to have something to eat in the day. In a familiar routine, Rajib and his elder brother get one the street, walk around, looking for empty bottles that they would later sell. They started their morning by begging for food at local cafes. On a good day, the boys get some leftovers. On a bad one, they go hungry.

According to a study covered by UNICEF the Estimates of the number of children living on the street in Dhaka just like Rajib vary from 250,000 to 400,000. Rapid urbanization in the country has created pockets of dense slums and squatter settlements, each of which is home to thousands of street children. Children living in these conditions grow up on the margins of society, without appropriate protection, education, health care or guidance.

A large number of street boys have got involved in different types of crime as criminals use them as convenient accomplices. Poverty and wayward life of their parents, loss of shelters due to natural calamities such as floods and cyclone, drug addiction, bigamy or polygamy of parents and missing during journey from one place to another are among the factors that are responsible for a large number of street children get involved in crimes. Many of these hapless street children are being picked up by criminals for keeping arms, throwing bombs at targets, selling drugs and pilferage of food grains for small amount of money.

A key insight from the last two decades has been the crucial role of education in lifting people out of poverty and most importantly, as economist Amartya Sen has put it, ‘enabling them to live a life they have reason to value’. The Bangladesh government has made a strong commitment to achieving universal primary education and has been extremely successful in meeting that goal with a gross enrolment rate of 98 percent. However, these figures in many ways mask a grim reality. Poor children may be going to school but they don't do it often enough, which leads to poor performance and high drop-out rates. Reports show that in Bangladesh nine million children are out of school, five million of whom are engaged in forms of work, many in exploitative and dehumanizing conditions.

But, a good thing is some NGOs are coming forward to help these street children. For example the drop-in centre run by the NGO Aparajeyo Bangladesh and supported by UNICEF. NGO Aparajeo Bangladesh, which works for welfare of the disadvantaged children, has undertaken a project styled 'Protection of children at risk'. This project under supervision of the Ministry of Social Welfare is mainly aimed at bringing the deviated children to the right path and normal life by providing them with necessary supports to build up their career, said Project Manager Shikder Hadiuzzaman Bony.

Civil societies and some individuals who has got the capability of funding, are coming forward, too. A Dhaka-based civil society organization, is looking to make a real and purposeful change in the lives of the city's street-children. As Anita Aparna Muyeed, founder and director of Streetwise Education Foundation, points out, Bangladesh's poor children deserve the best schools because they need an education that compensates for multiple disadvantages. According to Muyeed, “The issue here, I believe, is about confronting stereotypes and perhaps also overcoming notions that only the privileged should have access to ‘privileged schools’. These are children without shelter, without mentors, without access to health services and food; these are children who need access to the best schools, not the other way around.”

Rajib wants a better life just like other underprivileged street children do. Rajib said, he has big plans for the future. Hearing about the UNICEF supported center, where they can sleep, eat, can continue their informal education and, most importantly to receive vocational training, Rajib got so excited. He wants to go there along with his brother.

“I want to earn money and buy a house for my family. I want to get married one day, and want to do something for my society.” The eyes of Rajib tell a thousand stories. When he looks at you, at first suffering and survival stare back. But, you can also find hope in those eyes. Hope for getting a better life, hope for doing something special and making some contribution for the society just as the other privileged children of the society. Because, may be from the birth assignment there is classification of privileged and under privileged children, but every child in this earth is special, and the can make some contribution for the society for sure.

It is just the matter of giving them the opportunity. Just as the great pop singer Micheal Jackson sang, “…..there are ways to get there.. if you care enough for the living.. make a little space.. make a better place.....”

Arafat Bin Asad

Regional Masters in Media Communication & Journalism (2010)

University of Dhaka

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