Official figures show that nearly a quarter of all families in rural areas have children who are employed.

The figure is only marginally lower in urban areas where the influence of the middle class is greater.

In 2002/03, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) conducted the second National Child Labour Survey (NCLS). This survey has been designed and conducted in the context of the commitments made by the government of Bangladesh, following ratification of an ILO convention. According to the survey, there are 4.9 million working children 14.2 per cent of the total 35.06 million children are in the age group of 5-14 years. The total working child population between 5 and 17 years old is estimated at 7.9 million. The total number of working children aged 5-17 years in rural areas is estimated at 6.4 million as against 1.5 million in urban areas; As many as 93.3 per cent of all working children in the age group of 5-17 years operate in the informal sector. Agriculture engages 4.5 million (56.4 per cent children), while the service sector engages 2 million (25.9 per cent), and industry, 1.4 million (17.7 per cent). A total of 1.3 million children are estimated to be working 43 hours or more per week. More boys than girls are engaged in this form of child labour across all age groups.

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. The high drop-out rates are 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 learning materials, and the cost of education.

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 realised that the children who are employed in, for example, domestic service, often have no access to education or medical care.

Children are working as maids and servants, in garment factories and engineering workshops, in the construction sector, as bus or tempo (three-wheeler transport) helpers, in the bidi (a kind of hand-made cigarette) factories, as roadside restaurant workers and street vendors, and in tea plantations and other agricultural sectors.

The government should look into the matter.