Thousands of children and teenagers of Jhenaidah brick kiln workers are deprived of basic education and healthcare.
17,000 residential workers are employed in 101 active brick kilns across six upazilas of Jhenaidah district most of whom live inside makeshift shacks.
Like their parents, many of them are also working in the kilns for low wages.
Jannati Khatun,11, lives with her parents and 18-month-old brother in the workers’ colony of Asad-Jahangir Bricks in Mathurapur village of Harinakundu Upazila. Her parents came from Barodal village of Ashashuni Upazila in Satkhira for six months of brick kiln work. They will stay here until late March.
Many more like her, Junaed, Habib, Tonni, and Ayan, also live in the same colony with their parents. None of them attend school. They live in tin-roofed shacks with loosely built brick walls on one side of the kiln.
Jannati says she looks after her younger brother while her parents work. Sometimes she also helps with household work. She has not been enrolled in any school here.
Her father, Moinur Rahman, says, “We came to the kiln after taking advance money. We work six days a week. I can muld around 2,000 bricks a day, which earns me about Tk640. I also have another daughter at home, and I struggle to send money for her and run our family here. My wife earns a little by flipping bricks. There is no environment here for children to study.”
Ibrahim,14, works in brick molding here. He came from Tala upazila of Satkhira.
“My father works in a fish enclosure. I have a speech-impaired sister at home. My father earns very little, so I came here to work. I get Tk320 for molding 1,000 bricks. I earn Tk500–550 a day.”
Visiting four colonies of the brick kiln reveals that at least 20 teenagers like Ibrahim are working as laborers. Most of their parents either currently work or previously worked in brick kilns.
Brick kiln manager Jahangir Hossain says, “We do not sign contracts with workers directly. Our agreement is with the sardar (labor contractor). The sardar decides how much each worker will be paid.”
Labor contractor Wadud Hossain says, “The owners pay us Tk640 for preparing 1,000 bricks. We set wages based on workers’ skills. Small children and older people cannot work as efficiently, so they are paid less.”
Jahangir Hossain, owner of Asad-Jahangir Bricks, says, “Those who work here come from very poor families. During the work season, families come from Satkhira, Khulna, and Pabna. They live in the kiln colonies. There are schools and madrasas nearby, anyone who wants can attend. But they have very little interest in studying. When they fall sick, they go to doctors on their own. We have no institutional facilities.”
The same situation exists at Nahar Bricks located in Gilabaria village of Jhenaidah Sadar upazila. There too, children are working alongside their fathers and the same is the situation in all other kilns over the district.
Md Muntasir Rahman, Assistant Director of the Department of Environment, Jhenaidah, says, “There were a total of 123 brick kilns in the district. Of them, 22 have been shut down. However, only 11 kilns have approval from the Department of Environment. More than 17,000 residential workers live in these kilns.”
“Their living conditions are very poor. Each family has several children and teenagers. Their basic rights must be ensured. They also face serious health risks. Moreover, most brick kilns are burning wood despite the ban, which is extremely harmful for the environment. We will soon conduct enforcement drives,” he added.
