by Rafiqul Islam 

DHAKA, Aug 31, 2022 (BSS) – The coronavirus pandemic that ravaged the society has a heavy impact on the street children of the country, exposing them to extreme poverty, insecurity and drug addiction.

When the COVID-19 began in Bangladesh in March 2020 and everyone was struggling to find a safe abode to prevent the lethal virus, 10-year-old Towhidul Islam had nothing to do without staying at a rail station in Noakhali, as he had no home to find refuge.

“There were lockdowns. There was no movement of people. Doors of all remained shut and that was why I was just starving. Once I knocked the people’s doors looking for food, they asked me to go away as they were concerned of getting infected from the virus,” he said.

If anyone gave him any food keeping a safe distance, Towhidul was able to eat something; otherwise he had to remain hungry for the whole day.

“A very hard time I passed during the lockdowns. I roamed door-to-door. People hardly came to me for help,” he added.

Once the lockdown was eased, Towhidul went to Sylhet by train. But he suffered from severe fever and laid down on Sylhet rail station platform for a few days.

“One day, when I woke up, a person gave me bread and a banana to eat. But, I could not eat those as I lost test of food. I only drank water from a tap. Later, I ate a little and started recovering from the fever slowly,” said Towhidul, who lost his parents in a road accident a few years ago and failed to remember his home address in Noakhali.

Later, Towhidul came to Dhaka by a train from Sylhet and stayed at Tongi, Airport and Kamlapur rail stations for over a year, and finally took abode to a transitional shelter centre of Local Education and Economic Development Organisation (LEEDO) at the city’s Mugda.

Emon Ahmed, a 14-year-old who has been living in Kamlapur rail station for three years, said the COVID-19 pandemic made his life harder as all shops and houses were closed during the lockdowns.

“I collect scraps from the city streets and earn money by selling those to buy food. As there were lockdowns across the country, I remained idle outside Kamlapur rail station. I had to wait for someone giving me food. Many days I did not eat anything without water during the pandemic,” he said.      

Hundreds of thousands of homeless children are living on the streets in Bangladesh, and most of them had to face the similar fate like Towhidul and Emon due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), there were over 1.5 million street children in the country in 2015, suggesting the number could rise to 1.6 million by 2024.

DEPRIVED OF COVID-19 VACCINES

Bangladesh has already started inoculation for schoolchildren aged between 5 and 11 and above. All the children aged above 5 years will be brought under the coverage, according to the Ministry for Health and Family Welfare. Earlier, children aged at 12 to 17 years were vaccinated for COVID-19.

But, no initiative is yet to be taken by the authorities concerned to get street children vaccinated as they have no birth certificate that is mandatory for registration for the COVID-19 vaccination.

“I have been living in Kamlapur rail station for the last three years. I have passed the whole coronavirus period here and felt sick several times, falling prey to fever and cold, but I am yet to be vaccinated. As I have no birth certificate, I am not inoculated for COVID-19 yet,” 14-year-old Mohammad Emon said.     

Homeless children in Bangladesh live in extreme poverty and they lack access to basic rights like education, healthcare and social protection.

Abdulla Al Mamun, child protection and child rights governance director of Save the Children in Bangladesh, said the street children have no guardians, so they have no birth records. “Now the street children are not the part of the planning the way children are getting vaccinated,” he added.   

He suggested preparing a database of the street children and vaccinating them at selected points using their fingerprints.  

However, Women and Children Affairs Secretary Md Hasanuzzaman Kallol said the government will vaccinate the enlisted street children first and then steps will be taken to inoculate the remaining homeless children.  

FAMILY BREAKDOWN PUSHES CHILDREN INTO STREETS

Many people have lost their jobs and income sources during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing poverty and simultaneously accelerating family feud in both urban and rural areas throughout the country.

Due to the extreme poverty fallen during the pandemic, the parents of Sathi, 10, got divorced in 2020. Later, her mother married a guy again and shifted to Gazipur from Netrakona with her new husband. Sathi also came to Gazipur with her mother but a few days after her arrival, her stepfather started beating Sathi mercilessly, forcing her to come down on the streets.

“I was beaten every day, so I had no alternative to coming down to streets. I first came to Airport rail station from Gazipur. I was there for a month and then I came to Kamlapur station,” Shati said.  

Eight-year-old Mohammd Faisal along with many others has been staying at Kamlapur rail station for the last six months since he and her mother were abandoned by his father.

“My mother is sick so she cannot do anything. That’s why I live on streets. I earn by begging and spend the money for food,” he said.      

LEEDO founder and executive director Forhad Hossain said in the last two years, about 700 children were recovered from different places of the city following legal procedures and most of them came from broken families.  

COVID-19 DASHES DREAMS OF EDUCATION

During the pandemic, the vulnerable homeless children across Bangladesh were in crisis without any education and shelter as they were surviving with only any food or clothing.

According to child rights campaigners, the government and non-government organisations did little to provide these children with learning opportunities and much needed healthcare.

Emon Ahmed said he was studying at an education centre of an NGO located near Kamlapur but the centre was shut down during the pandemic, forcing him and many others to stop learning.

“I was in class-III. Still, I can read and write. Although the education facility resumed learning for the homeless children after the restrictions, I did not feel interest to go there,” he said.   

Forhad said the COVID-19 really dashed the street children’s dreams of education to ground as all the educational centres run by the government and NGOs were remained shut during the pandemic.  

He said most of the children who were studying in the learning centres earlier did not resume their study after reopening of the facilities.    

VICTIMS OF DRUG ABUSE

As the street children remained isolated from the people and were shocked due to loneliness during the pandemic, they were largely addicted by drugs particularly glue-sniffing.

Emon Ahmed said his mother roamed one shrine to another in the country but she did not inquiry about her son. “I was really got hurt by mother’s attitude and I started glue-sniffing, commonly known as dandy, as it helped me forget my shock,” he said.

“I have some 20 friends living in Kamlapur station and most of them take dandy,” Mohammad Emon said.    

Glues like gum, acetone, gasoline, and paint thinner are very popular drugs among the street children as those are very cheap and easy to access and using it has no legal consequences. They carry glues in polythene bags and put their mouths in thebags to inhale. Sometimes the children gather in groups to take turns to inhale.

According to a 2021 study of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC), 56 percent of the street children are addicted to drugs, while 21 percent of them are being used as carriers of drugs. 

About 14 percent of them said they have been taking drugs since they were 10.

The study revealed that the children often lack the ability to control their emotions, while the mental health of 55 percent of them were not good and  64 percent was unable to control themselves forcing them to be drugs addicts.

The young addicts suffer from various mental problems, according to the experts.

Forhad said the mental health of the street children were adversely affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic and many of them cannot speak to others normally because of drug addition.

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION 

During the pandemic, the rate of sexual exploitation increased among the street children as they lived on streets or rail and bus stations in an insecure state for lack of the people’s movement.  

Ten-year-old Sathi said when she lived in Airport rail station along with six other homeless children; she was pushed every night to do “bad work”.  
“But, I immediately came under the light of the station to protect myself from…,” he said.

Mamun said as street children live in different stations or points in groups, they, particularly girls, were exploited sexually and physically by local criminals or adult homeless people.

“During the peak of the pandemic, all the children shelters were closed, creating a condition where a girl faced nightmare as she lived on streets alone,” Forhad regretted. 

NEW PROTECTION INITIATIVE AHEAD

The government has a target of eradication of child labour from Bangladesh by 2025 and to achieve the goal, the state has to take the responsibility of the street children as they have no families, Mamun said.

He said the government should take rehabilitation programmes for the homeless children and measures must be taken so that no child is forced to comedown on the streets after getting separated from their families.

Forhad said many mega development projects spending thousands of crores of Taka are being implemented in the country but this development will not get fulfilled leaving children on the streets.  

“The state must identify it (the street children issue) as a problem, otherwise your development will remain questionable,” he added.

Secretary Hasanuzzaman Kallol said the Prime Minister Office (PMO) is going to take a mega project to protect the rights of the street children and make their lives smooth easing their vulnerabilities.

“We hope we will be able to take the project very soon,” he added.