'100,000 children to be freed from hazardous work by 2025'

To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and take the country forward on the path of prosperity, work is underway to rehabilitate 100,000 children by freeing them from hazardous labour by 2025 in fourth phase.

The information was given by director of the labor department Md Abu Ashrif Mamud at a roundtable discussion titled 'the role of trade unions and civil society in eliminating child labor' at the CIRDAP auditorium in the capital this morning.

In the discussion, it was also said that about 1200,000 children working in different sectors of the country will be rehabilitated in phases by releasing them from risky jobs.

With veteran labor leader and former MP Shah Md Abu Jafar in the chair, the discussion, was addressed, among others, by veteran labour leaders Mujibur Rahman Bhuiyan, Shahidullah Badal, Jahangir Hossain and Nasrin Akhtar Dina and general secretary of Bangladesh Labor Rights Journalist Forum Ataur Rahman.

In the fourth phase, one lakh children will be freed as the government has signed an agreement with 112 NGOs to eliminate child labour.

Work on risky child labour elimination project has started at a cost of Tk 2.84 billion.

Earlier, a total of 100,000 children have been released from hazardous work in three steps.