At least 22.7 percent of the working children in Savar upazila of Dhaka have been forced into child labour chiefly because of family problems and penury, according to a survey.

In addition, 61.1 percent of the child labourers work seven days a week, 83.8 percent work during government holidays, and 84.1 percent work 10 hours a day.

The Village Education Resource Center (Vere), a nongovernment organisation, conducted the study between January 2012 and November this year on 2,005 working children in the upazila.

The results of the survey, "Exploitation in child labour: Case of Savar upazila", were revealed through a press conference at Savar Press Club yesterday.

Ten focus groups collected the information by talking to child workers, their parents, guardians, employers, locals and others, said Vere Deputy Executive Director Yakub Hossain.

He claimed that though the survey was based in Savar, it represented the entire child labour scenario in Bangladesh.

In 2003, approximately 7.4 million children between the ages of five and 15 were economically active in Bangladesh, of which 3.2 million were engaged in employment and considered child labours, said Yakub, citing the National Child Labour Survey 2002-2003.

Vere demanded immediate implementation of "National Plan of Action for Implementing the National Child Labour Elimination Policy" which was prepared by the ministry of labour and employment in April to protect children from hazardous child labour.

Rokeya Haque, president of Child Protection Monitoring Committee

(CPMC) and Savar upazila vice-chairman, was present on the occasion, among others.

The survey under the project, "Protection of children at risk from abuse and exploitation and ensuring their development", was funded by Netherlands-based rights body Terre des Hommes.