During the Covid-19 pandemic in the year 2021, nearly 50,000 female students fall prey to child marriage, while almost 80,000 of them became child labourers. The report was prepared by the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, based on information provided by 11,769 secondary schools — almost half of all such schools in the country. This show how grim the picture may be if all schools across the country are counted. The rate of child marriage in Bangladesh is one of the highest in the world, and the pandemic aggravated the situation.
Educational institutions were shutdown from March 17, 2020, after the pandemic hit the country earlier that month. They resumed partially on September 12, 2021, after one of the longest school closures — 543 days — in the world. After resumption, school authorities held final exams for students of classes six to nine on three subjects, while 10th graders had to sit for Bangla, English and math exams. The report said that out of 66,49,538 students from 11,769 schools, 4,81,055 were absent for the tests. Of them, 47,414 were victims of child marriage and 77,706 became child labourers. In Rajshahi, the highest number of schoolgirls — 10,317 — was married off, followed by 8,064 in Khulna, and 7,425 in Rangpur. In terms of child labourers, Rajshahi again had the highest number — 12,261 — followed by 11,546 in Mymensing and 10,985 in Dhaka. Meanwhile, 3,781 students fall victim to child labour in Barishal, 7,472 in Chattogram, 8,479 in Cumilla, 8,367 in Khulna, 9,685 in Rangpur and 5,030 of Sylhet.
The study recommends the government to arrange stipends for such students to help them come back to school. Another study also found the rate of child marriage and child labour both increased during the pandemic. Despite significant progress in recent years, Bangladesh has the fourth highest prevalence of child marriage in the world. Covid-19 compounds the difficulties facing millions of girls. Government and non-government organisations and social institutions should work coordinately to stop child marriage and child labours, two severe challenges for Bangladesh to attain the SDGs.
