The boy carrying the plastic container among the adults was still very young

Boy carrying container — Boy with a plastic container on his head

There were men carrying materials on the streets of Dhaka. I saw a young boy among them. He seemed to be working as a laborer with the adults, rather than helping out in the family business. When I pointed my camera at him, the boy looked at me with a plastic container on his head.

He must be in his early teens, the age when people in Japan go to school. And yet, he was working at the construction site like a grown man, instead of attending school. I can't help but feel that such a situation is undesirable for the future of this boy and the future of Bangladesh as a country.

Not only in Bangladesh, but in South Asian countries, I often see children working alongside adults. I hear that in many families, children have to work because wages are low and the family cannot live on the income of the breadwinner. Child labor is also a growing problem, and Bangladesh, along with India and Nepal, has been included in the International Labor Organization's International Plan for the Elimination of Child Labor.

Comment via

日本語