International Research Journal of Social Sciences_____________________________________ ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 2(7), 33-41, July (2013) Int. Res. J. Social Sci. International Science Congress Association 33 Mitigating Problems of Destitute Children; Dropping Out from School and Involving in Under Aged Labour Md. Kayum Shikdar, Amit Kumar Biswas, Sezan Tanvir and Tarana TabassumSociology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna,BANGLADESH Available online at: www.isca.in Received 29th June 2013, revised 5th July 2013, accepted 13th July 2013 Abstract Bangladesh is one of the third worldcountries as well as the seventh most populous country in the world. Its population is growing at an alarming rate beyond its capacity. A large portion of children are involved in various work in our country. And this rate is increasing day by day. Children in Bangladesh are deprived from the basic human needs. The study was conducted on 240 respondents through Purposive and Random sampling. Data were collected by the interviewers from 2013. The study discloses a significant relationship between poor economic condition and dropout of children from school in rural areas. It encompasses the overall socio-economic conditions of those children who have been found to be dropout from school. The finding indicates that most of the children come from extremely poor families. Most of them have to work hard to support their family in their early ages. They live in a very poor condition. This study indicates that 50.0% respondents get involve in work at 14-17 years old; from this analysis it may be said that most of the respondents are getting involve in work during early ages of their life. Most of the children are not involved with educational process. Their educational qualification is also very low. Only 51.7% child belonged to one- five classes; 30.0% respondents belonged to six-ten classes. But a large number of respondents have no educational qualification. And 6.0% children are illiterate that means they have no educational qualification. The causes of leaving school showed that among the different causes the highest 44.2 percent of the respondents have left school due to the scarcity of money that indicates poverty is the main cause of leaving school. So, the situation is not good for the future of children in Bangladesh. This problem must be overcome by taking proper initiatives. Keywords: Child labour, poor children, Drop out, School, over population. Introduction Bangladesh is an over populated country. Different types of population live here but some of them are vulnerable. Child labor is one of them. The number of child labor is increasing in urban areas in an alarming rate and they are facing hazardous situation to survive. The prevalence of Children at Work increases in recent years and has become a serious problem throughout the world, especially in many poor developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. As ILO measured there were over 200 million child labourers worldwide and of these 200 million, 180 million are suspected to be engaged in the worst forms. A large number of children in urban domestic area are working either without salary or no fixed salary. About 70 percent of the child workers do not attend schools. Violence ranges from verbal to physical abuse and further torture. The most common types of violence included calling names, shouting, complaining and finding faults, the use of insulting and filthy language, obscene words, beating, slapping, whipping, and being burnt with hot spoons or rods etc. The level of awareness on the issue of child labour is still low. Society in general has a rather indifferent attitude towards the problem. In many cases, it is not realized that the children who are employed in, for example, domestic service, often have no access to education or medical care. There is a direct link between child labour and education. Nearly 50 per cent of primary school students drop out before they complete grade 5, and then gravitate towards work, swelling the number of child labourers. Among factors contributing to child labour are rapid population growth, adult unemployment, bad working conditions, lack of minimum wages, exploitation of workers, low standard of living, low quality of education, lack of legal provisions and enforcement, low capacity of institutions, gender discrimination, conceptual thinking about childhood, etc. One or more of the above contribute to the large numbers of children working under exploitative or hazardous conditions. In Bangladesh, where more than 30 percent of the people live in extreme poverty, many families are unable to fulfill the basic needs which compel them to engage their children in risky jobs at an early age. Children as well as their parents have no interest in education as they think that education is not a real life necessity. Furthermore, poor schooling is often attributed to child labor in Bangladesh, especially as there is a severe deficiency in proper schooling facilities, particularly in rural areas. The high drop-out rate of children from school is correlated with the low quality of public primary education, low adult literacy, low awareness of the importance of education, teacher-student ratio (sometimes this goes up to 1 per 100), non-availability of didactic and learning materials, and the cost of education. International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 2(7), 33-41, July (2013) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association 34 Material and Methods The study was conducted on two areas purposively to get a real picture of the situation of dropping out of children from school and the status of child labour. One of the study areas is ‘Megacity’ which is concerned with child labour situation and other is ‘Sub-Urban area’ which is concern with dropping out of children from school. Because, ‘Megacity’ areas are much related with child labour and ‘Sub-Urban area’ areas are much related with dropping out of children from schools. The study was conducted through survey design. An interview schedule was used for data collection. In this study data were collected from the children who were dropped out from school and who are below 18 years of age. To achieve research objectives, Data were analyzed and interpreted by using descriptive as well as inferential statistical techniques. Unit of analysis was both children who were dropped out from school (below 18 years of age) and children at work (below 18 years of age). The first study area is purposively selected of Khulna city corporation area of Bangladesh and second study area is purposively selected 3 upazilas (Mollahat, Fakirhat, Bagerhat sadar) of Bagerhat district in Bangladesh. Sample size was selected from the total population (all deprived children of two study areas) allowing an error tolerance of 5 percent at 95 percent confidence level, the required sample size was 240, 120 for the situation of dropping out of children from school and other 120 for the situation of child labour. Data were collected through interview schedule method, which was asked and filled by the researcher himself in face-to-face interaction. Both primary and secondary sources of data were used to conduct the study. To give the research a proper logical quantitative ground, descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analyzing the data. Results and Discussion Profile of the Respondents: Socio-economic profile, i.e. age, education, sex, family size and so on, of a population is an important factor to understand different social phenomena in different circumstances of the society. Of the total child population aged 5-17 years, 7.5% or 3.2 million children are engaged in child labour, defined as paid or unpaid work that prevented or adversely affected a child’ s schooling. Approximately 58% of child labourers are aged 5-14. 2.4 million Or approximately 77% of the child labour populations are from the rural areas. The male to female ratio of child labour is 3:1. Here, table 1 expresses that 84.2 percent were male and the rest 15.8 percent of them were female. The female proportion of dropped out children was less than the male proportion. And 27.2 percent respondents were about the age of 14-17, 42.4 percent respondents were at the age of 10-13, and 30.4 percent of them belonged to the age of 6-9. Most of the respondents were in the age group of 10-13. The mean age of the respondents is 12.1 years. It is difficult to draw direct causality between child labour and education because of the interplay and inter-dependency of multiple factors. However, evidence does suggest a strong relationship between child labour and education. For example, nearly 50% of children drop out of primary education before completion, who then become candidates for the labour market. Table 1 shows that 94.2 percent of the respondents having class I-V and only 5.8 percent have attended class VI- X. Here the data signify that most of the dropped out children were class I-V. Thus they were out of education and they engaged at different work in most of the cases because of poor economic condition. Here the data of the Table represented that, the level of education among the respondents was not smooth to bear beyond. The family structure can have an influence over educational access and retention of the children, particularly in poorer communities. Children living in households with larger family are more likely to drop out. Findings of the study disclose that 20.8 percent respondents had 1-3 members in their family, 56.3 percent had 4-6 members in their family and 22.9 percent had the family with 7-9 members. In this table, data revealed that, the respondents have the average family members of 5 (6.3). It is very much difficult for the poor family to provide adequate supports to their family members. Due to the poor economic condition, the children dropped out from school and involved in early age of work to fulfill their family needs. Size of the family motivated them to drop out from school and to join the early age of work. Sometimes the children motivated from the family and sometimes they joined the work to fulfill their own necessity. The main reason given by parents for sending children to work was that of needing help to increase family income, rather than education being too expensive. Hence, either the parents are making short-term financial decisions based on income needs or they do not think that there is much economic utility of sending their child to school. Khair states that poor parents in Bangladesh perceive children in terms of their economic utility. Hence, they are more inclined to use children to earn cash than in educating them, as the skills they will need to be taught whilst working in farming, factory or shops rather than in an education system which is far too removed from practical skills10. In Bangladesh, 58.3% of households (41.1% urban and 63.7% rural) had an average monthly income of 3,000 taka or less. Table 1 also shows 55.4 percent respondents were from 1-3000, 25.8 percent of them were from 3001-6000 income family which is very low level of income and 11.7 percent were from 6001-9000 income family and 7.1 percent respondents were even no income. The data of the presentation recommended that, majority of the respondents were from 1-3000 income level family. The average family size of the dropping out of children is five, thus the income level of the family head has a little ability to contribute for its member. Most of the cases the poor income level of the dropping out of children’s family motivated the children to involve at work to fulfill economic necessity of the family. International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 2(7), 33-41, July (2013) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association 35 Table-1 Socio-economic Profile of the Respondents’ Background Information of the Respondents’ Respondents (n = 240) Percent (among 100%) Sex Male 202 84.2 Female 38 1538 Age Distribution (in years) 6-9 73 30.4 10-13 102 42.4 14-17 65 27.2 Mean Age = 12.1 Educational Status Class I-V 226 94.2 Class VI-X 14 5.8 Family size Small Family (1-3) 50 20.8 Medium Family (4-6 ) 135 56.3 Large Family (7-9) 55 22.9 Monthly Income of the Respondents’ Father 1-3000 133 55.4 3001-6000 62 25.8 6001-9000 28 11.7 No Income 17 7.1 (Field Survey, 2013) Factors Related to Dropping out of Children from School: Here, results which were found from survey conducted on 120 respondents among 240 respondents regarding the factor dropping out of children from school are discussed.Life experiences and major problems of the dropped out children: Here, data of table 8 shows that, among the respondents in rural areas, 88.3 percent were living in kacha house, 10.8 percent were in semi-pacca and only 0.8 percent was in pacca house. The data represented that most of the respondent’s family were living in kacha house and their position is poor. Among the respondents, 35.0 percent were van puller, 8.3 percent were day laborer, 24.2 percent were shop assistant, 3.3 percent were welding, 1.7 percent was involved in bus helper, 14.2 percent were maid servant and 13.3 percent were engaged with other works. The majority of the respondents were van puller. Here the data of the table signified that most of the respondents in the rural areas were associated with the labor work, maid servant, shop keeper’s assistant services, and bus helper and welding. Thus they were linked by heavy work and tough labor. Though the age of the respondents was not supportive to that kind of sturdy works but they had to link them with those types of works due to their vulnerable background. As well as the work in which the dropping out children were involved, possess no bright future for them. Those works were low wage based and most of the cases the children were not permanent worker of a certain place. So lack of education they are deprived in every sector in their life. A total of 1.3 million children are estimated to be working 43 hours or more per week. The average weekly income for child workers of age 5-17 receiving wages was 288 taka and the average monthly income was 977 taka. Table 2 also shows the different income levels of the respondents. Among the respondents, 55.0 percent have the income level between 1-1000 (BDT), 21.7 percent of the respondents have the income level of 1001-2000 (BDT) and 15.8 percent of the respondents have the income level of 2001-3000 (BDT) and only 7.5 percent have the income level of 3001-4000 (BDT). The data of the table recommend that, most of the respondents belong to a degraded income level. According to the income level among the respondents, the low income level chosen as 1-1000 and the major number of the respondents belong to this income level. The mean income of the respondents is 1258.83 (BDT) with the standard deviation of 974.64. The majority of the dropping out of children in rural areas has a poor monthly income level, which is not sufficient for them to fulfill their basic needs. As a result they involved in work instead of going to school. Different health situation are found among the drop out children in rural area. The health is not merely absence of disease but also the mental, social and physical wellbeing of the society. Table 2 represents the disease occurrence among the respondents during last three months. Among the respondents, 65.3 percent suffered by disease during last three months and 34.17 percent did not suffer in disease during the last three months. It represents the vulnerable health status of the drop out children in rural Bangladesh. International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 2(7), 33-41, July (2013) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association 36 Table-2 Life Experiences and Major Problems of the Respondents’ Life Experiences and Major Problems of the Respondents’ Respondents (n = 120) Percent (among 100%) Housing Condition Kacha 106 88.3 Pacca 1 0.8 Semi –Pacca 13 10.8 Occupation of the Respondents Van Puller 42 35.0 Day Labor 10 8.3 Shop Assistant 29 24.2 Welding 4 3.3 Bus Helper 2 1.7 Maid Servant 17 14.2 Other Work 16 13.3 Monthly Income of the Respondents’ (in BDT) 1- 1000 66 55.0 1001-2000 26 21.7 2001-3000 19 15.8 3001-4000 9 7.5 Diseases Suffered by the Dropped Out of Children during Last Three Months Yes 79 65.38 No 41 34.17 (Field Survey, 2013)Causes behind Drop Out of School: A survey of reasons for not enrolling in school indicated that 5.2% of girls aged 6-14 had never enrolled because school was too far from their homes and 6.4% of the never enrolled children said that the road to school was too insecure11. Among the different causes 5.8 percent that constituted 7 respondents out of 120 respondents have left school because school was situated far from their home. The highest 44.2 percent of the respondents had left school due to the scarcity of money that indicates poverty was the main cause of leaving School. The second highest that was 28.3 percent of the respondents had left School because they were involved to work at home or outside. Among the respondents 14.2 percent had left School due to their dislike of School. The reason of 1.7 percent Respondents of leaving School was unsafe road construction and 5.8 percent for other reasons. The table represented that most of the children were not going to school because of their poor economic condition. There is scarcity of schools in Bangladesh in proportionate to the number of students. Public funding of primary and secondary education in Bangladesh per student is low. The government expenditure in the education sector was only 2.2% of GDP12. Especially in the rural areas of Bangladesh the number of School is below the necessity of demand. So many students in spite of their willingness do not get chance of education as a result they drop out from school. Table 3 expresses the causes of drop out of school with the availability of school in respondents’ locality. Among the respondents the highest number of 68 that represents 56.77 percent had no school available in their locality. Whereas 43.33 percent respondents had schools available in their locality. Educational levels of the household members are also influential in determining whether and for how long children access school. The data presented in the Table 3 showed that, 70.0 percent of the respondents’ fathers were illiterate, 24.2 percent of them have passed the primary education, 2.5 percent have the level of secondary education and only 3.3 percent of the fathers have passed the S.S.C. Thus the Table signified that, among the respondents’ father the major numbers were illiterate. Hence this situation indicates the backwardness of the respondents’ family head in terms of their consciousness, knowledge and practice of leadership. Most of the cases the decision of the father leads the drop out children to engage in work. Thus the illiteracy of the family head motivated their children to early dropout from the educational enrollment. Besides, both boys and girls are deprived of schooling because their labor is essential for household work, especially girls as they work as house servants and look after their siblings whereas boys are often involved in the family-owned farm and for other income-generating activities13. Table 3 also signifies that, among the respondents, 94.2 percent participated in their family economy. They were providing economic support to their family. Only 5.8 percent of the respondents have no participation in their family economic support. They don’t provide economic support to their family. International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 2(7), 33-41, July (2013) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association 37 Table-3 Causes behind Drop Out of School Causes behind Drop Out of School Respondents (n = 120) Percent (among 100%) Causes of Leaving School School is Far from Home 7 5.8 Scarcity of Money 53 44.2 Has to Work Home or Outside 34 28.3 Dislike of School 17 14.2 Unsafe Road Construction 2 1.7 Others 7 5.8 School Available in Respondent’s Locality Yes 52 43.33 No 68 56.77 Educational Status of the Respondents Father Illiterate 84 70.0 Primary (I-V) 29 24.2 Secondary (VI-X) 3 2.5 S.S.C Passed 4 3.3 Economic Support Provided by Respondents to Family Yes 108 90.0 No 1 10.0 (Field Survey, 2013)Thus here data represented a general idea and that is, due to economic vulnerability of the family, respondents have to leave school relate themselves at an early age work. Most of the cases the economic support as their family need, motivated them to leave school in their childhood specially after completing primary education. More or less the economic deficit of the children’s family in rural areas directed them to leave school and to support their family necessity. Here economy considered as one of the main necessity of the dropped out children’s family. As they lived under the poverty line they have the lower emphasis on the necessities of education. They considered money as the only approach to accomplish the other needs. Hence they symbolized the economic need of the family as the major one and the children motivated by their family to leave school work for survival.Factors Related to Children Who Involved in Under Aged Labour: Here, results which were found from survey conducted on 120 respondents among 240 respondents regarding the factors related to children who involved in under aged labour. Life and Living Condition of the Working Children: Migration is the process of movement from one place to another place relatively or permanently for livelihood pattern or any other purpose. Due to various facilities in urban areas population are migrated with a high speed. In the table 4 the data expounded that among the respondents who have migrated to Khulna city have different causes behind their migration. Among the respondents who have migrated 8.3 Percent migrated to Khulna city due to problem of living place crisis, 32.5 Percent have migrated due to poverty, 6.7 Percent migrated due to landlessness, 3.3 Percent migrated due to flee from home, 3.3 Percent influenced by other, 1.7 Percent have migrated due to other reasons and the highest percent 44.2 did not migrated in Khulna city. Hence here data signify that, most of the cases the working children migrated due to poverty situation and there are some forced factors which motivated the respondents to step into the migration process. Most of the cases due to poverty, the working children with or without family migrated to the Khulna city. They have migrated as a reason to attain the economic efficiency from the city. Thus the family or the children of the family involved themselves at work, to fulfill their basic needs. In Bangladesh children are engaged in industries, workshops, tanneries, agricultural sector, transport sector, construction sector, bread factories, ship-breaking yard, restaurants and tea-stalls. They also work as maids and domestic servants. They are also engaged in some of the hazardous jobs where the rate of child labour is high, working atmosphere unhygienic, ages abnormally low and wages unfixed14. In the table 4 data explained that, among the respondents, 25.8 Percent were daily laborers, 40 Percent were workers, 9.2 Percent were welding sector, 8.3 Percent were Rickshaw/Van Pullers, 1.7 Percent were involved in self-business, 13.3 Percent were in service and 1.7 Percent were engaged with other works. The majority of the respondents were worker in different hotel, shop and industry worker. Here the data of the table signified that most of the respondents in the Khulna city are associated with the labour work, house hold work and shop keeper’s assistant services. Thus they are linked by heavy work and tough labor. Different monthly income levels of the working children facilitate them to fulfill certain basic needs and different living style. International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 2(7), 33-41, July (2013) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association 38 Table-4 Life and Living Condition of the Working Children Life and Living Condition of the Working Children Respondents (n = 120) Percent (among 100%) Migration Reasons of the Respondents N/A 53 44.2 Living place crisis 10 8.3 Poverty 39 32.5 Land less 8 6.7 Flee from home 4 3.3 Influenced by other 4 3.3 Others 2 1.7 Occupation of the Respondents Daily labor 31 25.8 Worker 48 40.0 Welding 11 9.2 Rickshaw/van puller 10 8.3 Self-business 2 1.7 Service 16 13.3 Others 2 1.7 Monthly Income of the Respondents’ (in BDT) Low income (1-2000) 95 79.2 Medium income (2001-4000) 16 13.3 High income (over 4000) 6 5.0 Only food and shelter 3 2.5 (Field Survey, 2013)The average weekly income for child workers of age 5-17 receiving wages was 288 taka and the average monthly income was 977 taka. In the table 4 the data designated here the different income levels of the respondents. Some of them have no income but to retain in work only for food and shelter. Among the 120 respondents, 79.2 Percent have the income level between 1-2000 taka (BD), 13.3 Percent of the respondents have the income level of 2001-4000 taka (BD) and only 5.0 Percent of the respondents have the income level of more than 4000 taka (BD). As well as 2.5 Percent of the respondents have only food and shelter as remuneration of their work. The data of the Table recommend that, most of the respondents belong to a degraded income level. The majority of the working children in Khulna city have a poor monthly income level, which is not sufficient for them to fulfill their basic needs. Though the working children involved in different heavy and hard manual work, but they are not supported according to the appropriate remuneration.Problems and Sufferings of Working Children: Most of the cases the reasons to involve at early age work of the working children possess more or less some similar character. Thus there are some common factors which influenced the children to engage in early age work. Table 5 represents the bifurcate distribution of influential causes which were responsible for the children’s early age involvement at work. According to the data of the table, 47.5 percent respondents engaged themselves at work as a reason for providing economic support to their family, 3.3 percent by forcefully, 17.5 percent involve at work for ensuring own desire, 30.8 percent for their better job and rest 0.8 Percent respondents involved in early age work due to pay debt on behalf of their family. In their own necessity, respondents connected with the need of shelter, food, good future etc. Thus the table represented that, in most of the cases, the respondents’ engagement in work occurred due to bad or poor economic condition of the family as well as for their own economic deficit. Being poor, the family and the working children faced deficit of their basic needs. Thus the poverty situation of the family directed them to involve at working atmosphere to support their family economy. A survey on hazardous child labour, it was found that out of 521,641 children, over 100,000 worked for 43 hours or more; were abused by employer; worked under extreme temperature; worked with risk of being hurt, cut or burnt and worked under direct sunlight for long hours15. In the table 5 data presents that 22.5 percent respondents they suffered occupational injuries during 3 months on the other hand, rest highest 77.5 percent did not suffered during 3 months. In state of exploitation and abuse the working children of Khulna city have bifurcate responses. In accords with their working environment and the social atmosphere the working children experienced different state of exploitation. In the table 5 data presentation illustrated that; among the 120 respondents 68.3 Percent faced diverse type of torture in different occasion. And 31.7 Percent never experienced any torture. Thus the majority of the respondents in Khulna city have the experience of torture situation. Among the respondents in Khulna city 20 respondents are girl. In different occasion of working or in social atmosphere they have experienced different type of torture and abuse. Table 5 explains that, among the girl working children 16.7 Percent have experienced torture of different type, in different time of their International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 2(7), 33-41, July (2013) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association 39 working life. Thus here the presentation revealed that, the majority of the girl children have mugged the torture situation. Female are still considered as the back warded population. The Data presentation of above table signified that, in state of torture facing the female working children are still experiencing different type of torture in their working life. In the table 5 data presentation revealed that, among the girl respondents 11.7 Percent have faced the proposal of sexual intercourse in different occasion. And only 5 Percent didn’t experience the offer of sexual intercourse. Here the Table represents that, among the female working children majority have faced the offer of sexual intercourse during their working period, in their working environment .Thus the data indicated that, majority of the working girl have suffered in extreme sexual abuse. And some time they have faced torture with mental violence and physical shocks. By involving in working, working children did not get proper time for leisure period. For that reason when they got sometime then they enjoyed their time. The table 5 shows that, This time could be 9.2 percent in everyday, 15.8 percent was every 2 days, 32.5 percent enjoyed only their working holidays, and the rest highest 42.5 percent they did not have no special time for entertainment facilities. Finally table 5 illustrates that, 4.2 percent had NGO support and the highest 95.8 percent did not get any types of help or support from Govt. and NGO. Testing of Hypotheses: To justify the study two hypotheses were formulated and tested. It is discussed in table 6. As it is expected, Economic Support to Family is associated with Family size of respondents and Causes of leaving school of respondents is associated with Monthly income of the respondents’ family. It is proved that the bigger family size the more economic support needed from respondents, less income level of respondents’ family, more rate of leaving school by respondents. Here, Pearson’s Xtest was conducted to test the hypotheses. Table-5 Problems and Sufferings of Working Children Problems and Sufferings of Working Children Respondents (n = 120) Percent (among 100%) Reasons for Joining in Job of Respondents Help for family 57 47.5 Forcefully 4 3.3 Ensure own desire 21 17.5 Better future 37 30.8 Pay debt 1 0.8 Total 120 100.0 Occupational Injuries during Last 3 Months of Respondents Yes 27 22.5 No 93 77.5 Physical/Economic Punishment in Work Place of Respondents Yes 82 68.3 No 38 31.7 Violence in Working Place of (Female) Respondents N/A 100 83.3 Yes 20 16.7 Illegal Proposal Received by (Female) Respondents N/A 100 83.3 Yes 14 11.7 No 6 5.0 Time in a Week for Entertaining Activities of Respondents Every day 11 9.2 Every 2 days 19 15.8 Only holiday 39 32.5 No time 51 42.5 Getting Govt. and NGO Support by Respondents Yes 5 4.2 No 115 95.8 (Field Survey, 2013) International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 2(7), 33-41, July (2013) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association 40 Table-6 Testing of Hypotheses Hypothesis Variables Calculated Value Asymmetrical/ Approximate Significance Level of Confidence Status Null Alternative Dependent Independent There is no relationship between the family size of the respondents and their rate of economic support to the family There is relationship between the family size of the respondents and their rate of economic support to the family Economic Support to Family Family Size 13.06 0.000 0.01(1%) Alternative hypothesis accepted There is no relationship between the monthly income levels of the respondent’s family (BDT) and reason for respondents leaving school There is relationship between the monthly income levels of the respondent’s family (BDT) and reason for respondents leaving school Causes of leaving school Monthly Income of The Respondents Family 26.91 0.001 0.01(1%) Alternative hypothesis accepted Some Recommendations to Improve the Situation: In Khulna city, children work at menial, unskilled and non-productive jobs like rickshaw pulling, welding industries, and the lifting of heavy loads. They are generally not given any medical services, many times not even in cases of workplace accidents. It is common for all children to fall ill frequently with skin diseases, heat strokes, physical pain, and eye-sight-related problems. Children, with the compulsion of taking up work at early age do not get the proper developmental environment. Many working children, especially girls, are also subjected to sexual abuse and harassment. Risky child labor also creates an obstacle for their future growth. So to stop child labour and improve working environment the flowing steps should be taken: i. Immediately end hazardous and exploitative child labor-including bonded labor commercial sexual exploitation and work that hampers the child’s development. ii. Provide free and compulsory education, ensuring that children attend primary education full time until completion. iii. Expand legal protection; ensure consistency and implementation in mutually supportive ways. iv. Register all children at birth, in order to protect the Childs right to have evidence of the child’s age. v. Extend data collection and monitoring-gather and analyze globally comparable child labor data. vi. Develop codes of conduct and procurement policies-corporations should adopt codes of conduct guaranteeing that neither they nor their sub-contractors will employ children in conditions that violate their rights and then abide by those codes. vii. Create awareness among parents about the consequences of risky child labor. viii. Provide allowances for the poor families and accelerate the food for education program at a large scale. ix. Improve the health services for children in areas where it is known that child workers are living and working. x. Create mobile medical teams that visit and treat child workers at their work places. Conclusion At the study conclusion, we should focus on those potential steps which are necessary to reduce the dropout children problems in rural areas of Bangladesh. As to effort for solving the adaptation problem of the dropout children in rural areas of Bangladesh, we have to minimize the increasing rate of dropout of children by taking preventive measures. As the study found that the major cause of dropping out of children are their family vulnerabilities. Thus by reducing the poverty rate of the family and by increasing the family income level, it is possible to slow down the rate of the dropping out of children in the rural areas of Bangladesh. Beside these the government should take steps to provide education to all the children in the remote areas. Both the government and non-government organization should work to increase the conscious of the rural people regarding the necessity of education. The enforcement of law and government initiatives should be modified and placed as to get International Research Journal of Social Sciences___________________________________________________ISSN 2319–3565Vol. 2(7), 33-41, July (2013) Int. Res. J. Social Sci.International Science Congress Association 41 back the students to the school. Today’s child is tomorrow’s future. They are the most valuable wealth of every nation. But unfortunately they are engaged in various works due to poverty. The child who is involved in work is called child labour. Child labor is, generally speaking, work for children that harms them or exploits them in some way (physically, mentally, morally, or by blocking access to education). Child labor is recognized as a global health problem. And it is a matter of great regret that this problem is very much severe in our country. It is easy in the developed world to think child labour a problem of the past, but recent news stories have brought the matter back under the spotlight. In the recent years the rate of child labour is increasing day by day in our country. It is very necessary to control this tendency otherwise it would damage our overall development. Without controlling the child labour situation it is quite impossible to ensure country’s progress. But to control the child labour situation is not an easy task. If we want to control child labour tendency then we need to control its related aspects such as poverty, family disorganization, over urbanization, over industrialization etc. To control this problem it is necessary to provide the facilities such as access to health care facilities, access to clean water, improved educational facilities, to control fertility etc. If we can improve these facilities then we will be able to control the acute problem from our country.References1.Iftekhar M. and Shafiqul Kalam, Glimpse on Child Labor: A Study on Child Labor Situation in Dhaka City Corporation Area, BRAC University Journal, Dhaka, 4(1), 19-29 (2007)2.UNICEF’S., Asian Child Labour Report UNICEF Asia (1999) 3.Canals, Joseand Cristobal Ridao, The Dynamics of School and Work in Rural Bangladesh,Department of Economics, University of Colorado at Boulder (2002)4.ILO., Child Labour and Responses: Overview Note-Bangladesh. Dhaka: ILO (2004) 5.Hasnat B., International Trade and Child Labour: The Hapless Fall Guys; the Independent Jan. 12 and13, 1996, Dhaka (1996) 6.Khair S., Child Labour in Bangladesh: A forward looking policy study. Geneva: ILO (2005) 7.Khanam Rasheda, Child Labour in Bangladesh: Trends, Patterns and Policy Options, University of Sydney, Australia. (2005) 8.Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Report on National Child Labour Survey 2002-2003. Dhaka: BBS (2003) 9.CREATE. Dropping Out from School. Consortium for Research on Education, Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE), Policy Brief Number 8, UK (2009)10.Khair Sumaiya, Child Labour in Bangladesh: A Forward Looking Policy Study, Geneva, Switzerland: International Labor Office. (2005) 11.Ahmed M., Ali K.S. and Khan K.K., Bangladesh: Education Sector Mapping: Dhaka, Institute of Educational Development, BRAC University (2005) 12.Ahmed M., Ali K.S. and Khan K.K., Bangladesh: Education Sector Mapping: Dhaka, Institute of Educational Development, BRAC University (2007)13.DANIDA, Gender Equality in Education. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (2008) 14.The New Nation Online Edition, 25th November (2004) 15.Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Baseline survey for determining hazardous child labour sectors in Bangladesh.Dhaka: BBS (2005)