Listening to the children : Case study on child labourers and Non Formal Education in Dhaka

Abstract: In this study, I investigate the impact of Non Formal Education (NFE) programs on working children’s lives in Bangladesh considering the principle of the “best interests of the child” and assuming the importance of “educational opportunities” in challenging child labour and allowing children to make informed rational choices. Since the principle of the “best interests of the child”, as defined by the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), is vague and ambiguous, I took children’s voice into account so as to understand better its implementation and its reconcilability with the NFE programs I visited in Bangladesh. In my study I focused especially on children in the 9-14 year age group, living in urban slums, who were both working and studying through NFE programs. To do so, apart from an early pilot study in Delhi, I collected my data through a field study in Dhaka. Findings are discussed by reference to pertinent studies on child labour, education and development. My conclusions are that the NFE programs analyzed in the peculiar Bangladeshi context are not fully reconcilable with the principle of best interests of the child as defined by CRC, and that working children enrolled in such programs are not really free to make rational choices. Ultimately, in order to better apply the above mentioned principle in the context studied, it is necessary to define more clearly who are the children in question, and to realize more structured interventions which should be able to especially address those vulnerable children who more than others deserve attention and protection, and to guarantee their continuing education in order to really change their lives.