The melting brass glows in the dimly lit workshop where a coal furnace rages at around 900 degrees Celsius. By the fire, a master carefully casts molten brass into an earthen mould. As soon as the molten metal touches the mould, it ignites with a burst of flame burning a layer of soil and burnt engine oil in the iron case. A pungent smell fills the air.
Next to the master a thirteen-year-old boy, Nayeem, closely watches the procedures. Nayeem is learning the trade. The temperature in the congested tin-shed workshop rises very high.
Each time the molten brass is cast into the mould, Nayeem picks up the iron case, still hot, with bare hands. He then skilfully brings out the product–bathroom fittings and toilet accessories–still glowing from the heat.
The factory Nayeem works for is Chitila Akter Chinthia Molling at Dakkhin Syedabad in Dhaka, where at least 25 similar workshops operate. His master Mantu, aged around 40 and in the same trade since he was 11, says in Jatrabari, Demra, Lalbagh, Azimpur, Jurain and Syedabad areas there are about 2,000 moulding workshops employing over 4,000 children under the age of 13. Their weekly wages range from Tk 200 to 500. These factories supply bulk of the country’s demand for bathroom fittings, toilet accessories, hardware, electric appliances and vehicle parts.
Inside the factory, in the sweltering heat the toxic smoke and soot rising from the furnace envelop Nayeem. As he toils through the day perspiring and coughing, Nayeem visibly shows signs of fatigue and breathlessness.
“When it hurts at night, my mother tightly wraps the part of my body with a piece of cloth,” said Nayeem. “My mind tells me to go home and rest. But I can’t. I work with pain,” says Nayeem, in a dirty T-shirt and worn out trousers. “I feel very tired.” Nayeem showed infection developing around his navel and signs of burn on his elbows and abdomen.
Nayeem’s childhood, away from school, playground and a proper living, looks doomed. He is the younger of two children of a family renting a shack in a slum nearby. Nayeem refuses to take this correspondent to his house. His father Chan Mia is an angry man, a well-known loafer of the area who lazes around and counts the weekly wages of his two sons.
“I have to hand over all my income to my father. He only gives me Tk 10 a week and provides for my food and lodging,” says Nayeem.
Mantu complains of repeated jaundice, cold, fever and decaying of spinal cord. “Nayeem’s future in this profession depends on himself. Some can make it well till the end and some can’t,” said Mantu taking a look at Nayeem who mimics the same gestures Mantu made about 30 years ago.
Tajmeri SA Islam, chairperson of the chemistry department at Dhaka University, says it is highly probable that a layer of particulates from the atmosphere inside the factory is getting lodged into Nayeem’s lungs.
“This can dangerously expose the child to lung cancer and also accelerate his ageing metabolism by the time he steps into 40,” Tajmeri adds.
Chemist Prof Nilufar Nahar of Dhaka University says it is possible that the metals, which are getting molten, are contaminated with lead and mercury. “The extreme heat in the process of melting would then release lead and mercury particulates, which would definitely damage anyone’s kidneys and fill lungs’ pores, causing severe respiratory problem,” Nahar says.
In this hazardous environment, a child has to work for 14 hours a day, handling up to 100kg of brass, an alloy of zinc and copper.
“The high temperature inside the workshop is set to hamper oxygen intake and expose the workers to severe health hazards,” says Asif Mujtaba Mahmud, an associate professor at Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital.
Professor ARM Luthful Kabir, director of Institute of Child and Mother Health, says, “Long hours in such environment will cause dehydration, high blood pressure, osteoporosis–a disease in which bone gets decayed–and respiratory diseases including pneumoconiosis creep in.”
This year the government formulated the National Child Policy, 2010 that bans employment of children under the age of 14 in any institutions. It also bans employing children under the age of 18 in any hazardous job.
By “hazardous job” it means working more than 43 hours a week, which is considered detrimental to a child’s physical and mental health.
Bangladesh Labour Law, 2006 in its section-34 bans employment of children under the age of 14 in any profession or institution. Section-35 of the law also bars parents from engaging children in any employment.
Punishment for the violation of the code is a fine of Tk 5,000 for the employers and Tk 1,000 for the parents.
Similarly, the Employment of Children Act, 1938, and the Factories Act, 1965, state that none under the age of 15 and 14 respectively can be appointed in any institution.
Bangladesh also ratified United Nations conventions on the Rights of the Child, 1989 and the Worst Forms of Child Labour, 1999 that bans employment of children under 14 in any institution and children of 18 in hazardous jobs.
“If the government strictly bans child labour, hundreds of families will live unfed as many are dependent on their children,” said Assistant Secretary to the Ministry of Women and Children Begum Badrunnahar.
“Under our socio-economic condition the government has to think cautiously about child labour, and we are working on the issue,” she added.
Nonetheless, the poverty-ridden children will not have an escape from the vicious cycle of getting employed in the increasing number of moulding factories. Once someone acquires a cash capital of about Tk 1 lakh, he may establish a new factory, which employs at least two children at the beginning.
