In a bid to eradicate hazardous child labour through non-formal education and skill development, Ministry of Labour and Employment will disburse stipends to the risk-ridden children through bKash.
In this regard, an agreement has been signed between the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the country’s leading MFS provider bKash at a city hotel on Monday, reads a press release.
Under this project, a monthly stipend of Tk1,000 will be provided to each of the 1 lakh children and Tk13,000 will be given to 10,000 child laborers as seed money through bKash.
Beneficiaries can cash out the stipend money without any cost from their guardian’s bKash account.
A total of 112 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been working as partners to implement this project.
Presided over by the Labour and Employment Ministry’s Secretary Ehsan-E-Elahi, State Minister Begum Monnujan Sufian was present at the signing ceremony as the chief guest.
Monowar Hossain, project director of the Eradication of Hazardous Child Labour project and Kamal Quadir, CEO of bKash signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides. Among others, Additional Secretary (Development Wing) Selina Akhtar, and senior officials were also present at the event.
Begum Monnujan Sufian, State Minister for Labour and Employment, said, “As a result of today’s agreement with the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the stipends will reach the bKash account of every student’s guardian directly. The entire process ensures transparency.”
Secretary Ehsan-E-Elahi said, “Through today’s project, bKash will disburse Tk1000 to each of the one lakh children and the beneficiaries will receive the money without the intervention of any middleman. In future also, we hope to have assistance from digitally advanced organisations like bKash in many more projects.”
bKash CEO Kamal Quadir said, “Children can flourish to their full potential if they get the right opportunity. The initiative taken by ministry of Labour and Employment to eliminate risky child labour can help build the future of Bangladesh. bKash is committed to making this project successful by disbursing scholarship and stipend to the beneficiaries in the shortest possible time.”
Apart from stipend and seed money, six-month long non-formal education and four-month long skill development training for one lakh children, creating awareness on the negative impact of child labour and developing database and tracking system will also be implemented under this project.
