NO schooling, no education, no gainful occupation — all these have distanced away the off-school aged adolescents from participating in the mainstream development paths of Bangladesh. A roundtable in the city on Wednesday detailed out the horrendous scenario of the adolescents and youths who are deprived of basic rights and considered as a barrier to development. But clash between cops and the inmates of the Jessore Kishore Unnayan Kendra (Juvenile Development Centre, Jessore) on Tuesday infers that we are backward in dealing with our junior citizens who are really misguided and victims of the social indifference shown to them.
The number of juvenile delinquents has increased in the country due to unplanned urbanization, changes in social attitude and rural poverty driven migration. Many causes force the children to engage in criminal activities. Abject poverty, absence of primary education, unrest and quarrels in their families, divorce, easy availability of drugs and arms, etc are some to note. The propensity to juvenile delinquency is often manifested through petty crimes which should be addressed with a human interface. But in reality, the adolescents in distress often become victims of adult cruelty as it happened in Jessore. The police in Jessore juvenile center, however, did the opposite which prompted the inmates to engage in a clash with them. A constable blamed all the inmates for stealing Tk 100 and hurled abusive words at an inmate who was waiting to leave with his father on bail. Later, to calm the situation, two members of the police guard team were withdrawn from the centre. But, withdrawal of these two policemen is not enough to prevent such incidents. The core problem remains unresolved.
There are about 27.7 million adolescents aged 10-19 years of age in Bangladesh and about 13.7 million girls, which makes up about one-fifth of the total population. As the girls are usually more prone to be deprived of their basic rights, so they need to be taken care of properly. Comprehensive efforts of the major stakeholders are critical to resist the rights violation occurring through child marriage, gender based violence, social insecurity and poor access to adult and reproductive health care.
We share the view of the roundtable and urge the policy makers to recognize the adolescents as human capital. Officials concerned with the juvenile centers around the country including the law enforcers must be more cautious and merciful while dealing with them. There should be a minimum provision of schooling and skill-training so that the juveniles get a humane touch so as to become human capital and contribute in the national development process.
