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Poverty drives kids to bidi factory in Lalmonirhat

Parents prefer earning to arranging schooling for children

S DILIP ROY, Lalmonirhat
Sumi Akhter, 10, read up to Class II, but she could not continue going to school as her parents put her to work in a bidi factory at Kalmati village in Sadar upazila of the district.
Like Sumi, her cousin Lavlu Islam, 7, was admitted in Class I, but he was engaged in the same work by his parents instead of going to school.
"I want to go to school, but my parents put me to work to earn for the family,” said Sumi Akhter. "I can make 2,500 to 3,000 bidi sticks every day, and 1 get Tk 10 for mak-
ing 1,000 bidi sticks," she added.
"I was admitted in Class I, but dropped out after six months as my parents engaged me in a bidi factory," said Lavlu Islam. “I can make 2,000 to 2,500 bidi sticks every day," he said. "I want to go to school, but my parents are not interested," he added.
Sumi's father Fazlu Miah, 42, said, "We are poor, so our children help us to alleviate poverty by working,” adding that many children of the village work in bidi factories.
"It is not possible for our children to go to school as we have no
ability to pay for their education, so we want them to get training on job,” said Sumi's mother Meherbanu Akhter, adding that she also worked in a bidi factory.
Lalvlu's mother Ahila Begum, 32, said, "Our poverty is the main reason for putting our children to work instead of sending them to the school."
Azizul Islam, 48, a bidi factory worker in the village, said many children of 20 villages in five unions - Harati, Khuniyagachh, Sarpukur, Saptibari and Bhotmari -- under the district are engaged in bidi factories.
Ashraf Ali, manager of a bidi factory in Saptibari village of Aditmari upazila, said they do not hire children, but the guardians send their children to work in the factories.
Fatema Begum, 35, a primary schoolteacher at Sarpukur village, said, "Some children from ultra poor families take admission in the school, but many of them drop out very soon."
District Primary Education Officer Nabez Uddin Sarker said the teachers in the villages are trying their best to convince the guardians to send their children to school.