Samir Hossain Mohan Editor: In every city of Bangladesh, you can see countless street children on the streets or sidewalks. They can be seen in various places across the city, but very few people may stand next to these street children.
Similarly, in Chittagong city, small children are often seen playing on the sidewalk. I have also seen children picking up food left on the ground on the sidewalk and eating it immediately. They grow up in such an environment. They live where the sun, rain, winter, and monsoon are all the same.
When these children grow up, they run from one street to another in pursuit of livelihood. On our daily walk, we see them sometimes walking around with flowers, sometimes chocolates or some other product in their hands. Life has deprived them of all their basic rights.
They are not getting the minimum biological benefits. They are getting involved in the terrible world of drugs and are involved in various criminal activities. According to the information provided by the law enforcement agencies, currently 80-90 percent of various criminal activities have emerged from street children. Street children are subjected to sexual harassment since childhood, and later get involved in prostitution.
Thousands of street children, whose life struggle has no end. They are a neglected section of society, who are completely deprived of basic rights such as education, medical care, and security.
These street children roaming the streets and sidewalks of the city, who want to live a little comfortably and establish themselves. However, their life struggle is stalled by the wall of depression, due to which they are constantly pushing themselves towards destruction.
Such street children can be seen in different places of the city such as Alankar, New Market Square, Sholashar Station, Baratoli Station, Bahaddarhat, Muradpur, GEC Mor, CRB, Agrabad.
They come to the streets from different parts of the country due to the loss of family members or the helpless condition of their families.
Street children often beg for food and shelter, clean car windows, sell flowers, paper, water, old things, or do small jobs.
Some of them become addicted to drugs, get involved in criminal activities, and become victims of crime gangs. In some cases, it is seen that some political leaders and vested interests in the society involve them in various criminal activities such as theft, robbery, drug trafficking, looting, robbery, and murder.
In addition, most street children grow up in unhealthy environments, which threatens their physical and mental health. Going to school is like a dream for them. Most of them do not have a birth certificate or a valid identity card, which blocks their path to getting a job or any social benefits in the future.
Even after the change of government, the lives of street children have not changed. Despite repeated initiatives by non-governmental organizations, they have failed. What is the reason for the failure? So the question remains. Is the government not looking at the poor?
Although the government and various NGOs have taken steps to rehabilitate street children, it is still insufficient. Some non-governmental organizations provide education for them and try to rehabilitate them. However, how much of a solution to this problem is possible without a change in social attitudes and a joint effort by government and private initiatives?
What needs to be done for the future generation is to increase public awareness and the government’s good eye in order to rehabilitate street children and ensure their fundamental rights.
Establishing an integrated and effective education system, health care, and security system for street children is the first step to building a bright future for them.
Basically, starting from the individual level, we all have to work together to build a beautiful future for street children.
We should come forward from every level of society and bring these street children back into the mainstream of society.
