Introduction:

Almost two and half century has passed since founding of Dhaka City by Shaesta Khan at 1760 AD. The pleasant and charming garden city of Mughal era has lost its character over the centuries and gathered the Metropolitan characteristics with its concrete structures, criss-crossed wide & narrow streets, urban utilities and most of all the massive number of 15 million inhabitants. The basic Problem of Metropolitan Cities of this region is almost the same. That is ever-increasing inhabitants with unplanned urbanization. The inhabitation rate of Metropolitan Cities in this region are so high that it becomes almost impossible to meet the minimal demand of habitation, utilities, services and security for them, besides unplanned urbanization makes the problem even more complex. There are more than a few causes for the downpour of inhabitants in to the Metropolitan Dhaka. The only mentionable job in rural Bangladesh is cultivation related jobs which is mostly seasonal. Lack of alternative livelihood in the off season forces the rural inhabitants in to the cities in search of livelihood. Moreover the landless people has increased sharply in number as the population has doubled within just 20 years and it is very unfortunate that from the beginning, Bangladesh governments failed to take right measures to create enough jobs for its rural citizens. One of the miseries brought by the modern civilization is the situation of the street children. In the old times, and still now in some areas, children worked with their parents and reamed a lot of things from them; later, children looked after aged parents, and therefore much value was put on children, and there was strong bond of affection between parents and child. However, now it has changed. Parents go to work, and children do not go to work with them. Children only cost much money for food and education. Parents of a poor family are suffering from much financial stress. As the stress becomes bigger, their love for their children decreases. Then, a home, which should be a place children receive affection, becomes a place where they receive pain physically and mentally. Therefore, in some cases, children choose not their house, but the street. Street children may express satisfaction with the freedom from abuse by parents or by siblings; nevertheless, theirlives seem not so easy. They live from hand to mouth, working in some odd jobs;
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if they have no job, the steal to eat, and if they have extra money, they buy drugs.In general, street children's lives are rather short. They are in bad health, because of their abuse of drugs, venereal disease and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Some are killed in conflicts with rival gang groups. Sometimes children's corpses are discovered in the condition in which their internal organs are removed skillfully. They are used for organ transplants in secret. Furthermore, if they could grow up, the situation might be worse because they would grow up with no special skills and the few jobs they could do would all be taken by younger children. Therefore, their future seems difficult. Most people are not acting for street children; however, some are tackling this problem earnestly. They proffer social programs and shelters, where children can take a shower, sleep free from care, and can obtain.

Definition of Street Children

The United Nations defined street children as `any boy or girl for whom the street (in the widest sense of the word, including unoccupied dwellings, wasteland, etc.) has become his or her habitual abode and}or source of livelihood; and who is inadequately protected, supervised, or directed by responsible adults' (quoted in Lusk 1992 p. 294). The definition of street children plays a pivotal role in research and may be a source of disagreement about the results of studies (Koller and Hutz 1996). Children and adolescents who look like drifters (wear shabby, dirty clothing, beg for food or money, sell small objects, work, or wander without a purpose on the streets) can be found in large cities all over the world. The appearance of abandonment singles them out as belonging to the same group. UNICEF defines street children as, "those who are of the street and on the street." In this study, the term street children refers to those children of 5 to 14 years of age who earn their living on the city streets and stay there for most, or all, of the day. They may or may not have parents or legal guardians. For the purpose of the study, street children were categorized into four groups: children of 5-14 years of age who work on the streets the whole day and a) live on the streets without any family b) live on the streets with their family c) return to another family; and d) return to their own family. Children of the streets would be those who actually live on the street, all day and at night, who do not attend school, and do not have stable family ties. Theyfull their needs and are socialized on the streets. In contrast, children in the streets would be those who live
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with their families, may attend school, but spendall or part of their days on the streets, trying to earn money for themselves or their families (Hutz and Koller 1999). The relationship with the family has been considered as a key feature of the definition of street children. Felsman (1985) idented three groups of street children in Colombia: (a) orphaned or abandoned children, (b) runaways, and (c) childrenwith family ties. Leisure and occupation on the streets were added to family ties in Martins' work (1996) to identify three different groups of street children in Brazil. He found a group of children with stable family ties who worked on the streets and went home every night. These children played in their neighborhood or on the streets where they worked and many attendedschool. A second group had unstable family ties.Although they lived on the streets, these children knew their families and, occasionally, went home to visit or even to stay for a while. Finally, there was a group of children who were on their own on the streets and who had lost all contact with their family. Nevertheless, it is difficult and it may even be misleading, to define a child as belonging to a special category. Hutz and Koller (1999) claimed that in their research they rarely found children who had completelylost contact with their family. They also identified many children who lived at home and worked on the streets, but occasionally slept on the street, and children who periodically left home and lived on the streets for weeks or months, and then went back home. The variability within these groups regarding the frequency of family contact, sleeping location, occupation on the streets, the destination for the money they earn, school attendance, and several other variables (including physical and sexual abuse, sexual activity, etc.) may be so large that the distinction between the of the street group and the in the street group may be meaningless or even misleading for research or intervention purposes. These authors suggested that it would be more appropriate to categorize street children as a function of the risks to which they are exposed (e.g., contact with gangs, use of drugs, dropping out of school, lack of proper parental guidance, prostitution, etc.) and the protective and the protective factors available to them (e.g., school attendance, supportive social networks, contact with caring adults, etc.). Researchers could then determine how vulnerable children are to developmental risk andwhat appropriate actions could be taken in each special case.

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Numbers and Distribution

Numbers
Estimates vary but one often cited figure is that the number of children living independently in the streets totals between 100 million and 150 million worldwide. According to a report from the Consortium for Street Children, a United Kingdom-based consortium of related Estimating numbers of street children is fraught with difficulties. In 1989, UNICEF estimated 100 million children were growing up on urban streets around the world. 14 years later UNICEF reported: The latest estimates put the numbers of these children as high as 100 million (UNICEF, 2002: 37). And even more recently: The exact number of street children is impossible to quantify, but the figure almost certainly runs into tens of millions across the world. It is likely that the numbers are increasing (UNICEF, 2005: 40-41). The 100 million figure is still commonly cited, but has no basis in fact (see Ennew and Milne, 1989; Hecht, 1998; Green, 1998). Similarly, it is deba whether numbers of street children are growing globally or whether it is the awareness of street children within societies which has grown. Distribution Street children may be found on every inhabited continent in a large majority of the world's cities. The following estimates indicate the global extent of street child populations.

India 11 million Egypt 1.5 million Pakistan 1.5 million U.S. 750,000 - 1 million Kenya 250,000 - 300,000 Philippines 250,000 Congo 250,000 Morocco 30,000 Brazil 25,000 Germany 20,000 Honduras 20,000 Jamaica 6,500
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History
Children making their home/livelihoods on the street are not a new or modern phenomenon. In the introduction to his history of abandoned children in Soviet Russia 1918 -1930, Alan Ball states: Orphaned and abandoned children have been a source of misery from earliest times. They apparently accounted for most of the boy prostitutes in Augustan Rome and, a few centuries later, moved a church council of 442 in southern Gaul to declare: Concerning abandoned children: there is general complaint that they are nowadays exposed more to dogs than to kindness.In tsarist Russia, seventeenth-century sources described destitute youths roaming the streets, and the phenomenon survived every attempt at eradication thereafter. Long before the Russian Revolution, the term besprizornye had gained wide currency. In 1848 Lord Ashley referred to more than 30,000 'naked, filthy, roaming lawless and deserted children', in and around London. By 1922 there were at least 7 million homeless children in Russia as a result of nearly a decade of devastation from World War I and the Russian Civil War. Abandoned children formed gangs. created their own argot, and engaged in petty theft and prostitution. Examples from popular fiction include Kipling's Kim as a street child in colonial India, and Gavroche in Victor Hugo's Les Misrables Fagin's crew of child pickpockets in "Oliver Twist" as well as Sherlock Holmes's "Baker Street Irregulars" attest to the presence of street children in 19th-century London.

Causes
Children may end up on the streets for several basic reasons: They may have no choice they are abandoned, orphaned, or disowned by their parents. Secondly, they may choose to live in the streets because of mistreatment or neglect or because their homes do not or cannot provide them with basic necessities. Many children also work in the streets because their earnings are needed by their families. But homes and families are part of the larger society and the underlying reasons for the poverty or

breakdown of homes and families may be social, economic, political or environmental or any combination of these. In a 1993 report, WHO offered the following list of causes for the phenomenon:

family breakdown armed conflict poverty natural and man-made disasters famine physical and sexual abuse exploitation by adults dislocation through migration urbanization and overcrowding acculturation disinheritance or being disowned

The orphaning of children as a result of HIV/AIDS is another cause that might be added to this list.

Rights of children:
Pertaining to birth envy mans his ownership of independent and same dignity. This ownership gives him a beautiful and peaceful life. For this we need to be cautious about childrens rights. Conventions on the rights of the child accepted unanimously passed by the general council of UN in November 1989; Bangladesh is one of the country among 22 countries who have ratify the convention on the rights of the child was essential for Bangladesh in 2nd September 1991 :now ,from 193 member country of General Council of united nation, 191 countries have approved this clause; in convention on the rights of the child consisted of 54 articles; welfare of children has also made sure in 43 articles with that project them from following subject like all type of absorption ,dissimiarity, neglect,operation .Ensure their health and education, relation with their parents , cultural program ,civics rights etc; in 13 article it also discussed that to

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preserve the rights and establish the right nationally and internationally

Street Children of bangladesh:

Estimate of street children by sex and by division Out of 2573 street children 97.56 percent were boys and 2.44 percent were girls. Table1 gives the distribution of street children by sex and division.Girl street children were found in 4 divisions. The survey did not find any street children in the Rajshahi and Khulna division. In Dhaka and Chittagong division about 3 percent were girl street children. The estimates of QCS, in our opinion, are underestimates as sex workers, drug abusers, pick pockets, theft, snatchers were under represented. The extent of underestimation could not befound out. The statistics of 2 shows that 54.8 percent of all street children alone live in Dhaka division, 14 percent each in Chittagong and Sylhet divisions. The percentage share of Rajshahi,Khulna and Barisal was small. 2 also gives the number of locations by division. As regards the number of locationChittagong ranks first while Dhaka ranks second, although Dhaka division had the highest percentage of street children Table 1: Percentage Distribution of Population by Age and Sex 2001. Age 0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20 5-7 group and above Male 13.1 13.8 13.2 9.9 50.0 32..9
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Femal 12.9 13.3 12.4 9.5 51.9 31.4 e Total 13.0 13.6 12.8 9.7 50.9 32.2 Source: Based on unpublished data of BBS. . Estimate of street children by regions Bangladesh was previously divided into 23 districts. These districts are now known as greater districts, as each of them are further divided into more districts and currently there are 64 districts. Each of these greater district is termed as region by BBS in this survey ( 3). 2 represents the distribution of 2573 street children by division and it can be seenthat as Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and is the biggest city, it has the highest incidence accounting for 54.8 percent of the street children. Sylhet division and Chittagong account for 14 percent of street children population.

Division Location Number Percent Boys number

Street children percent Girls Number Percent Total Number Percent 1411 361 221 138 360 82 2573 54.8 14 8.6 5.4 14 3.2 100

Dhaka 139 33.7 1367 54.5 44 68.8 Chittago 162 39.2 350 13.9 11 17.2 ng Rajshah 42 10.2 221 8.8 0 0 i Khulna 25 6.1 138 5.5 0 0 Sylhet 26 6.3 354 14.1 6 9.4 Barishal 13 4.6 79 3.1 3 4.7 Total 413 100 2509 100 64 100 Table 2: Percentage Distribution of Street Children by Division and Sex

Home regions of street children 3 gives the distribution of street children by the regions where they were living at the time of the QCS. The survey reveals that

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the poorest children migrated to the metropolitan cities of Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong from the other regions. Demographic characteristics of street children The survey interviewed only those street children who reported their age between 5 and 17 years. The age distribution of street children given in 5a. It can be seen that (48.7 percent) were of age 11-14 years, More than 26 percent of children were between 14-17 years old and 19 percent had age 8-11 years. Sex-wise variation was small. The mean and median age for boys and girls were as follows. Girls were relatively younger compared to boys. The three distributions are negatively skewed. Religion of street children Among 2573 street children 98.7 percent were Muslims and 1.3 percent were Hindus ( 9). Parent's occupation The distribution of street children by parents occupation is given in 10. The distribution by father's occupation identifies three main occupations. These are: (a) Nonagricultural labor, (b) Agricultural labor and (c) Small business. More than 70 percent street childrens fathers are labors either agricultural or non-agricultural As regards mother's occupation 62 percent mothers are housewife. It is important to observe that more than 21 percent mothers work as maidservant. The distribution demonstrates that the street children come from poorest families. Education of parents 11 provides the distribution of parents by their level oeducation.Nearly 70 percent fathers and 76 percent mothers were illiterate, 82 percent fathers and 88 percent mothers have no formal education. Comparing the national level of adult illiteracy rate of 40 percent, it may be inferred that street children come from families with lowest educational attainment. Reason behind leaving home: 12 provides the distribution of the reasons cited by street children for leaving home. The 5 most important reasons mentioned were:
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 Poverty/hunger : 38 percent children left home on account of this Ran-way from home : 14 percent children reported this Stepmother/father : 11 percent children reported this Earn money (income) : 11 percent children reported this No one to look after them : 9 percent children reported this Abuse : 6 percent children reported this These statistics reveal a gloomy picture. Most children left home because they were living either in abject poverty or in abject misery. They were forced to leave home when living with parents/relatives became intolerable. This may be termed as forced expulsion from the home or 11 push migration as used in demography. A small number (11 percent) reported pull factor (to earn money). It is to be mentioned here that about 13 percent children were orphans with both parentsdeceased. The survey reveals that 13 percent of all street children were orphan of both parents. 13 gives the estimated number of children who reported to the parents before leaving homefor the town. The survey reveals that among the street children having at most one parent 50.4 percent did not inform while 49.6 percent informed the parents. Further, the survey found that 53 percent of children ( 14) came to the town without the consent of parents. Out of this 53 percent, 47.3 percent came alone while 5.7 percent came with friends. It is also important toobserve that although nearly 50 percent informed the parents not all of them took the consent ofparents while coming to the town. Duration of stay in the town In terms of duration of stay in the city where they werebeingsampled, 15 showsthat 16 percent were staying in the town for less than3months,nearly one third for less than ayear, nearly 52 percent for less than 2 years and 48 percent for more than 2 years. As high as 23.4percent had been living in the town for more than 5 years. A little less than 2 percent did not respond to the question. The average duration estimated is 34.6 months. The standard error of the estimate is calculated at 1.54 months. Visit to the parents The survey found that 57.4 percent of the children did not visit their parents ( 16). Those who did not visit is comprised of two categories: One who had both parents dead and the other who had at least one parent alive. The percent of street children having both parents dead

and did not visit was 13.1 percent. However, as high as 1095 (42.5 percent) visited parents. Among 1095 street children, 50 percent visited in last month, 18 percent in the last 3 months, 10 percent during last 6 months, 7 percent during last 12 months and more than 24 percent a year before. If visited and not visited are considered as indicators of keeping link with parents, then we see that nearly 58 percent have very weak link with parents and 42 percent children have been keeping links with parents. Reasons for not visiting parents The survey explored the reasons for not visiting the parents and these are presented in 17. The responses reveal that 24.5 percent did not visit because their parents were dead, 47 percent did not visit because they had no attraction to visit parents, 16 percent because they could not afford travel cost and 4 percent because their parents did not want their children to visit them. A close review of data of 17 reveals that 67 percent children andparents have detached themselves from one another. Livelihood of a street children: A livelihood is often defined as a combination of factors that one utilizes in order to make a living. Grierson for example defines a livelihood to comprise the capabilities, assets and activities required for a means of living (2003). Family Health International also states, a livelihood is everything people know, have, and do to make a living (2004).1 The aim of all economic livelihood programs is to help participating children and youth to build safer and more sustainable livelihoods. To achieve this goal, a livelihood program ideally comprises two distinctive sets of activities: (1) activities addressing various needs ofchildren and youth, and (2) activities aimed at linking children with economic opportunities.As for the latter, Livelihood programs have been using various types of economic activities. vocational training, work experience/internship programs, production workshops, and microcredit schemes. Age of the children when first started working Nearly 42 percent of the street children started working even when they had not completed their 7 years. About 50 percent started working when they were in the age interval 8-11 years. About 8 percent started when they were of age between 11-14 years The mean age of starting the first job was 7.81 years and the standard error is 0.052 year. The mean age of street children
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was 12.16 years at the time of the survey. This indicates that on an average one street child had been working 4.35 years. Reasons for starting the first job A total of 1704 children's (66.2 %) first job is other than their current job. They reported the reasons for first starting work .The most outstanding reasons reported by 88 percent children was poverty. About 5percent children reported abuse by stepfather or stepmother. Who put them to work in the first job In terms of who put them to work in the first job, Table 26 shows that in case of 55 percent of the children it was their parents who put them to work in their first job. About 26percent of the children reported that they themselves started the first job. In case of 20 percent ofthe children the relatives, friends, cousins, brothers and sisters put them to work in the first job.Recall that a significant number of children reported that their first work was being a domesticservant or an agricultural laborer. It can be inferred then that being a domestic servant puts the child at risk and makes them vulnerable to being on the streets

various job: The absolute and relative size of the population of children in Bangladesh is quite big as a share of the national population. The estimated total population in Bangladesh is 130 million(2001). Among them about 42 million (32.2% of total population) are 5-17 years old. The distribution of population and children are given in . According to the labour force survey conducted by BBS, 5.8 million children aged 10-14 years were working in Bangladesh in 1990 91 and this constituted 11.3 percent of the labour force. All the studies conducted so far show that working children live in severe poverty and the number shows an increasing trend. Surveillance data gathered by UNICEF in 1995 show that onemillion labours are employed in garments industries of whom about 90 percent were female and 1 percent were children below

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age 14 years. In rural Bangladesh, children traditionally worked on land. However they had the conventional protection of the families. Todays children are more vulnerable in the urban areas, in informal work sectors, where neither the family nor the law accord protection. On the contrarythe employers have vested interests in engaging children, since their labour is cheapest, their working hours can be longest and their bargaining power is non existent. The education of children for long-term life skills has always been underrated for economic gains both by the employers and parents. A substantial percent of child labourers work minimum 9 hours to as long as 18 hours (on average 10 hours a day). About 70 percent of the child labourers do not attend schools, 30 percent get education in addition to their jobs. Of these who are not attending schools, 48 percent gave economic constraints as the reasons. About 68 percent of the childrennot attending school expressed interest in acquiring education. A study conducted by a donor funded team (Blanchet), depicted a gloomy picture of childrens rights especially of girls in Bangladesh. About child labour, the study cited that most of the labouring children themselves do not mind having to work. What they object to are the humiliation, scorn and the various abuses they have to endure from their employers and clients. The study revealed Girls in particular are denied of right for a wage. National statistics show their presence in the labour force to be 10 times lower than the boys. This does not reflect the real situation. Girls are massively present in domestic service and commercial sex work. However, very poor families were often forced to send their children to work for others. Misplaced childhood, a study of the RED BARNET, Danish Save the Children revealed thatstreet children are involved in the following work: * Street sex workers * Occasional workers at hotels, restaurants etc * Transport labours * Coolies * Workers in informal sectors * Rickshaw Pullers/ Van-driver etc * Tokai * Hawkers and others The Government, NGOs and donor agencies have been concerned over the rapid growthof the child workers and they are looking to find ways and means to gradually and progressively eliminate child labour in Bangladesh.
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Table 3: Percentage Distribution of Street Children by Type of Current Work Current Work Numb Percen Standard er t error Begging 274 10.7 1.46 Sell flowers/newspapers/fruits on 126 4.9 1.02 the road Collect things from dustbin & sell 69 2.7 0.76 Collect old papers & other things 503 19.6 1.87 Any work 229 8.9 1.34 Tokai 377 14.7 1.67 Cooli / Minti 503 19.5 1.87 Others (helper, hawker, shoe polish, 492 19.1 1.85 pick pockets, odd jobs) Total 2573 100

Table 4: Percentage Distribution of Street Children by Daily Working Hours and Current Work
Current work Below 5 hrs Begging Sell flowers/newspapers/fruit s Collect things from dustbin & sell Collect old papers & other things Any work Tokai Cooli/Minti Others

Working hour
5 to 8 hrs 8 to 12 hrs 12 & more hrs

8.3 13.6 0.0 18.2 7.4 9.8 4.5 9.8

8.3 22.7 8.3 23.9 17.5 20.0 19.3 20.0

45.8 27.3 75.0 39.8 24.9 37.6 38.6 37.6

37.5 36.4 16.7 18.2 49.8 32.7 37.5 32.7

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Children in dangerous work:

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Where they sleep: Housing is another indicator that strongly reflects the economic status.most of the street children sleep besides the street.the place they live is very unhygenic,unhealthy.in big cities llike dhaka they live in the slum.table 4 shows the housing situation of them.

Table 2 The Poverty Status of Children in Street Situations as assessed by Parental Occupation and Housing Quality Jhupri One Room One+ room Tin house Thatch thatch Agricultural wage 9 5 2 1 laborers and fishermen Nonagricultural 2 7 8 0 laborers Petty traders 0 10 10 6

Pucca House 0 1 2

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Industrial workers/ owner farmers Tenant/ Formal sector employed or service holders.

0 0

2 0

10 2

9 5

2 4

Source: Conticini (2004)

Street children in dhaka:

The basic Problem of Metropolitan Cities of this region is almost the same. That is ever-increasing inhabitants with unplanned urbanization. The inhabitation rate of Metropolitan Cities in this region are so high that it becomes almost impossible to meet the minimal demand of habitation, utilities, services and security for them, besides unplanned urbanization makes the problem even more complex. There are more than a few causes for the downpour of inhabitants in to the Metropolitan Dhaka. The only mentionable job in rural Bangladesh is cultivation related jobs which is mostly seasonal. Lack of alternative livelihood in the off season forces the rural inhabitants in to the cities in search of livelihood. Moreover the landless people has increased sharply in number as the population has doubled within just 20 years and it is very unfortunate that from the beginning, Bangladesh governments failed to take right measures to create enough jobs for its rural citizens. Again, the curse of global warming created by rich countries hits as natural disaster to the poor country like ours more fiercely each year than the previous year. There is one of each or more of the natural disasters like flood, river/sea erosion, cyclone and earthquake each year making numerous people homeless and forcing them in to the cities for survival. In cities they become rickshaw puller or do similar physical jobs which pay very little. They forced to live in low rented unplanned slum houses here and there in the city. Struggle for survival leaves them so busy that they generally don't have any time or resource to raise their children properly. Another curse of the male dominated society of Bangladesh is male parent remarries at their will leaving their previous wife and
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children helpless. This thing happens in large numbers at the low incoming population as the wives are unaware of their rights or do not know how to exercise it. After the male leaves, generally who were the only incoming member of the family, it becomes very difficult for the females to raise their children properly. Whatever the reason is, census ravels that as many as 300,000 children spends their time in streets of Dhaka City, raised in streets, with no education, not enjoying protection of a single clauses of international child rights, becomes vulnerable to criminal activities like arms carrier, child sex, child traffic or becomes drug peddler. Within a few years they themselves become a famous criminal spreading terror and havoc in the locality. It is estimated that 300,000 more or less of unprotected children are raised currently in the streets of Dhaka.

Education :

The survey revealed that 82 percent of street children who had first job prior to street children stopped their school education in order to start work in their first job. Reading and writing skill The street child was asked whether he (she) can read and write. If the answer was yes for reading then the child was asked to read a part of the questionnaire as a means of verification thatthe child can actually read. Thus, if the child could show its ability to read, then the child was categorized as able to read, other wise categorized as unable to read. Likewise the ability to write was determined through verification. The outcomes of the two tests are collated in about 76.4 percent street children could not read and only 23.6 percent street children could read. The level of skill was found to vary across division and by age. Thehighest percent (26.9) was observed for Rajshahi Division and also for 11-14 years age group children. The lowest (12.5%) level was observed for the Sylhet division and for the age group 5- 11 years (12.0%).only 24.2 percent could write and 75.8 percent could not write. The standard error of these estimates was 0.02. Writing skill was alsofound to vary over the division and age groups.The highest percentage (44.2%) was observed for Rajshai division and for 1114 years age group (28.3%), and lowest was for Sylhet (14.3%) and 5-11 years age group (13%).

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Schooling status of street children (ever attended school) It was found that 60.7 percent children never attended any formal and non-formal school The standard error of the estimate was 2.30 percent. As high as 39.3 percent of the street children surveyed attended at least one type of school. Among all street children 29.7 percent attended formal school (27 percent exclusively formal schools) and 12.3% non-formal schools.In earlier chapter, it was observed that more than 82 percent of children who had attended school at some point stopped school even before they were street children. only 8 percent children were attending schools at the time of the survey. These statistics show that about 10 percent children stopped school during first job and the survey period. 39.3 percent street children ever attended schools. The class completed by these 39.3 percent was different. 19b shows that 22.6 percent of schoolattending children just attended class I, but not completed class I, 28.8 percent completed class I,23.2 percent completed class II, 13.0 percent completed class III, 6.7 percent class IV and 5.7percent completed at least class V.The average years of education (completed) comes at 0.672 with standard error of 0.058. This implies that the overwhelming majority who joined street children had virtually no education.

Reasons for not attending schools in the past About 60.7 percent street children never attended any formal or non-formal schools. The frequency distribution of the reasons they

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cited are given in 19c. Among the reasons thefollowing four were found to be important: * Parents did not send : 44 percent of never attended children mentioned; * Parents/ Family could not afford : 31 percent of never attended children mentioned; * Had to work for the family : 9 percent mentioned; * School education was not important : 8 percent mentioned. It is seen that poverty and ignorance about the importance of education were the main causes for not going to school. Current status of schooling and class attendance 91.6 percent of street children were not attending schools and only 8.4 percent were attending schools Among the schoolattending children, 68.4 percent had beenattending class I or preprimary, 21.1 percent attending class II and 10.5 percent attending class III (Table 19d). These street children, few in number, combine school and work together. They mostly attend NGO run formal schools or Govt. and NGO supported non-formal schools. Reasons for not attending schools currently The respondents reported the reasons for currently not going to schools (Table 19e). The most important reasons were: * Cannot aford school cost : 41 percent mentioned * Because of work : 38 percent mentioned * School education is not important : 9 percent mentioned * Parents did not send, and now the school age is over : 7 percent mentioned It can be inferred from the above responses that school for the majority is possible through motivational work and financial support. Perception about importance of education The respondents were found to have ambivalent ideas about the importance of education. However, they considered that it helps people to acquire life skill. Among all respondents 80.2percent reported that they give importance, while 19.8 percent reported that education and schooling "is not so important". However, when asked, would you go to school if you are given an opportunity, as high as 83 percent readily agreed .

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Health and living conditions of street children in Dhaka City

Health and living conditions of street children in Dhaka City The analysis presented here is based on the unpublished dissertation of the author titled "Street Children of Dhaka City: Origin Migration and Rehabilitation" conducted in 2002. In the study, 300 street children were randomly selected and interviewed from 15 places of Dhaka City for a questionnaire survey. Due to limitations of time, money and manpower the selected sample size was small. As the street children come from a similar socio-economic background the findings of the study, although the sample size is small, should have considerable value. Of the 300 street children 84% were boys and 16% were girls. The median age for boys was 12 years and girls was 7 to 8 years. The younger age for girls was largely because of the sexual harassment that the adolescent girls usually face, which force them to work in other sectors. Most of the street children work in the informal sector and their working hours vary widely (Figure 1). An elucidating point worth noting is that most of the children report their working times to be from morning till night and express the existing strenuous conditions. An important observation from the survey was that 91% of these street children who generally work for the whole day are virtually dependent on their income on a daily basis. Less than a third of the children are able to earn a poor sum of 20-30 taka per day. Almost all of their income is usually spent for food with little or no savings. A significant number of the respondents (65%) contribute towards the income of their family. The reasons for becoming street children were mostly economic, half of which was described as poverty, and other reasons include familial hardships such as absence of an earning member in the
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family, death of a parent etc. A majority of the street children (30%) live with their parents in Dhaka City. However, poverty compels them to work long hours on the streets during the day and eventually return to their families at night. Figure 2 shows the types of guardians of the street children in Dhaka City. Street children are generally exposed to dangerous and unhealthy conditions and were reported to suffer from a variety of illnesses. Fever is the most common illness among the street children. The other prevalent illnesses included accident injury, jaundice, chicken pox, allergy, measles, asthma, and diarrhoea. About 99% of the respondents reported that they did fall ill seriously on one or more occasions. Among them three quarters sought health care services and a third did not. They were asked whether a medical professional was contacted for the illness and about half of them reported that they sought services from medical professionals (Figure 3). In relation to places of slumber about three fourths of the children mentioned that they sleep in a station, slum, market area, footpath, stadium area, NGO, park, mosque and majar (shrine). The remaining stated that they sleep at home (Figure 4). The children who do sleep in homes and the slums live with either parents or other family. These children who sleep outdoors (station, market, footpath, NGO etc.) do so with other street children. Lack of sanitation and hygiene is a major health hazard for street children. About half of them bathe in different public places. Use of public toilets was mentioned by a majority of the streetchildren. A significant number of street children use open spaces for toilets and have to pay occasionally for some of these facilities, such as the market toilet (Table 1).

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NGOs working with street children appear to provide easy access. Around more than a third of the children get health services from
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NGOs, and a fifth of the children reported that the NGO officials take care of them during their illness. However when asked organizational assistance almost all (96.67%) said that they did not get any assistance from any governmental organization that work with street children and are thus unaware of their role and existence. Street children in Dhaka City: What do they eat?

Street children in Dhaka city lead a very measurable life. They eat various kinds of things. But from where they get it? Most of they have to face of kindness of people. Some time they have to face the rude behave from people.In these pictures one boy is eating food sitting by a loan place. He also shared it with his companion. He and his companion always share all things. If any one gives some money they also divide it equally Difficulties and dangers faced by children of the street
Being hungry and not having enough to eat

Being tortured by police Not having a bed to sleep on

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Not enjoying the work they do on the streets Feeling lonely; not having any friends Not being able to get a job Nowhere to go for protection from the rain Feeling frightened and hopeless about the future Not being able to learn to read, write and do maths Being abused and robbed of their money by adults Not having clean water to drink Adults insulting them or physically hurting them Not being able to get medicines when ill Girls not being able to marry Not having clean clothes to wear Having very little money and earning very little from their work Not having the power to protest against bad treatment by adults

THE ROLE OF VIOLENCE, THE SENSE OF INJUSTICE AND THE MOVE TO THE STREET In recent times the Government of Bangladesh has repeatedly attempted to increase the protective environment enjoyed by children through strengthening legal provisions against child violence18. But, as the Government admits, this emphasis onlegal reforms has not translated into changed behaviours and has failed to modify

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cultural practices harmful to children (MoWCA, 2005). Many of the children participating in this study reported that the main cause for leaving home was the violence19 inflicted on them by parents, stepparents, relatives and other members ofthe community. This has an immediate, direct and negative effect on children: pain, injury and humiliation. It also has an indirect and longer-term effect: feelings of insecurity and guilt. While recognising that different children may perceive their exposure to violence and the risk of violence differently (Dwivedi, 1999), their decision to leave home was mainly driven by the desire to find a safer environment, an alternative to their household and community of birth. Many also learnt that they could belong to themselves and could consider relying on their own capabilities and adaptive skills for survival. It is important to recognise that fear, anxiety, threat, uncertainty, and anger are feelings not usually produced through a single episode. violence but through the use of force as a broader process of control over children in Bangladesh (Blanchet, 2001).Acts of violence against children are classified into four main types: control (restrictions, sanctions and surveillance), emotional violence, physical violence and sexual violence (CEDAW, 1979). In the later parts of fieldwork children in our sample were asked whether they had experienced violence during the twelve-month period preceding their move to the street. In most cases this meant in their home but for a few children it was in institutions and transit environments. High levels of violence were reported for both boys (Figure 1) and girls (Figure 2) ranging from menaces, isolation, imprisonment, withholding or taking of money, threatened physical harm, beatings and sexual assaults. The experience reportedby Suheta, a 13 year old girl, illustrates the forms of violence that are associated with child: I was attending my morning class when my best classmate Rita received the order to hurry back home because her father was about to die. Rita was extremely sad and I decided to go with her to her village and stay with her and her family all the afternoon. Before the sunset I decided it was time to go backhome because my parents could have been worried. When I arrived at home my father was furious because he did not know where I was and he thoughtsomething bad had happened to me. He beat me as hard as he ever did before. When I thought everything had finished he took a rope and he tied me up bythe neck leaving me in the courtyard. The rope was very tight and I could not free myself, also because by that time my eyes were swollen and I was bleeding There were many people assisting but no one said a word He left me tied up for two days with no food
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 No, I dont think this is violence because he was worried for me. I had not informed him of my decision of going with my friend. If I had told him, he wouldnt have punished me. He did it to educate me (shikkadea) and make me understand about the dangers I could have found on the way. Only two of the 80 children (both boys) reported that they had not experienced violence during the year prior to their move to the street21. Most of the children described repeated and multiple forms of violence during that period. There were profound differences in the comparative experiences of boys and girls. In particular: (i) Boys were subjected to much higher levels of physical violence than girls (83 percent as against 44 percent). (ii) Girls were much more likely to have experienced sexual violence thanboys (78 percent as against 20 percent).22 (iii) Girls were twice as likely to have experienced all forms of violence than boys (24 percent as against 11 percent). However, for both genders in most of the cases at least two types of violence were reported: physical violence and control for boys (54 percent) and sexual violence and control for girls (64 percent). Unfortunately, this picture is supported by other recent studies on violence towards children in Bangladesh (Ghuznavi, Ghuznavi et al., 2001; Kabir, 1999; Kabir, 2002; Sarker, 2001; SCUK, 2001). Similar results have been obtained by researchers investigating the relationship between young people engaged in sex work and the sexual abuse of children in their households (Masud Ali, Mustaque Ali et al., 1997). Childrens perceptions of violence in Bangladesh are closely entwined with socialization, educational practices and bichar (fair punishment). The bringing up ofhousehold often base their decision on whether the violence they experience is just or unjust. If the behavior of adults is perceived by children as unjust, they are more likely to leave and seek security and social relationships elsewhere. Consequently ideas about good child raising, fair punishment and unjust violence are closely inter-related. The children who decided to leave their households were children who experienced high degrees of violence and especially violence that was perceived as unfair. While it is hard to bear physical, emotional and sexual violence, the biggest shock for children was the absolute collapse of the trust relationship with adults and the fear generated by the unpredictability of future unfair treatment and violence.Although most of the interviewed children left home to escape violence or unfair punishment, for some of them the justification for migration was more complex. Forthis group departure appeared to be driven by low levels of self esteem and was viewed as a form of self-punishment based on a feeling of guilt.
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With particular reference to abusive step-parents, some children reported migration to the street not to escape abuse but to save the marriage of their natural parent. They believed that leaving home would please their natural parent and improve the quality of life within the household. There are important differences between the genders. The number of girls in street situations was estimated to be about one quarter that for boys. This difference is not necessarily because girls experience a lower degree of violence within theirhouseholds. Rather, the practice of instilling an attitude of almost complete submission in girls from an early age (Blanchet, 1996), reduces the likelihood that31girls will confront abuse. Consequently, fewer girls leave their families to move to the street. In addition, girls usually have lower levels of knowledge about what life is like on the street and, if they acquire useful knowledge, they are likely to find that sexual violence and sex work are likely to be a major component of life on the street. The downside of life on the street is higher, perhaps much higher, for girls compared to boys.

THE PERPETRATOR OF VIOLENCE Parents, stepparents, relatives, school teachers and sometimes members of the wider community, were the most commonly reported perpetrators of violence against children who move to the street. Two common patterns can be identified. The first is the marriage of young girls, and sometimes very young girls, to men who initiated them into degrading sexual practices and physical violence from which they ran away. Young brides were likely to suffer from forms of violence perceived as a way of instilling submissive attitudes toward husbands. The second is abuse, by a stepparent, following the remarriage of a natural parent. This related to both stepmothers and stepfathers, the relationship between stepmothers and children appeared to be problematic in terms of lack of affection and childcare for stepchildren and for the punishing of stepchildren. The neglect and violence towards stepchildren increases with the birth of a new child between father and stepmother. By contrast, the relationships between stepfather and stepdaughter were particularly exposed to sexual abuse. Similarly, relationships with relatives, especially with uncles and male cousins, increased the risk of sexual violence. Also, some teachers were pinpointed as perpetrators of physical and emotional violence and control. Members of the local community were mostly indicated as perpetrators of sexual and emotional violence and control. Female adults rarely seem to impose sexual abuse on boys. All the
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reported cases of sexual abuse toward girls were perpetrated by male adults (Kabir, 1999 and 2002). Evidence from the fieldwork in rural areas, suggested that abusiveparents were particularly lacking in empathy, the ability to be sensitive to the needs of a child and to respond properly and at the right time to child needs. While some adults were sensitive to their birth children and stepchildren, it was generally reported that stepchildren were less prioritized and that there was greater empathy for boys rather than girls.

Devolopment of street children

Current Government Policies and Programs to Eliminate the Worst Forms Reasons for not attending schools currently Current status of schooling and class attendance Perception about importance of education Health and living conditions of street children in Dhaka City
THE ROLE OF VIOLENCE, THE SENSE OF INJUSTICE AND THE MOVE TO THE STREET THE PERPETRATOR OF VIOLENCE

The Government of Bangladesh is working to eliminate child labor through the implementation of action programs, stipends, rehabilitation and reintegration programs, and promoting universal access to education. The ILO-IPEC program in Bangladesh is currently implementing eight programs totaling USD 12.7 million to eliminate child labor through awareness raising, education opportunities for children, income generating alternatives for families, and capacity building of partner organizations. These programs include USDOL-funded projects to eliminate child labor in the garment sector and in five hazardous industries, including bidis,construction, leather tanneries, matches, and domestic service in the homes of third parties.

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USAID is supporting efforts to eradicate hazardous child labor in other sectors. The Government of Bangladesh has demonstrated significant efforts since the end of 2004 to more fully comply with the U.S. Trafficking Victims and Protection Act of 2000. Recent efforts include 47 trafficking prosecutions resulting in 62 individual convictions between June and December 2004; the establishment of a police anti-trafficking unit; arrests of several public officials for complicity in trafficking crimes; the rescue of more than 160 victims; and the creation of an inter-ministerial committee on trafficking. The government is also collaborating extensively with the NGO community on efforts to combat child trafficking in the areas of prevention, research, advocacy, awareness raising, enforcement, rehabilitation, and legislative reform. Bangladesh is one of six countries included in a USDOL-funded ILO-IPEC Asia project to combat child trafficking for labor and sexual exploitation.With the support of UNICEF and ILO-IPEC, the government is implementing the National Plan of Action on Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children, which aims to raise awareness, sensitize law enforcement officials, work with schools, and improve laws to combat trafficking of children. The government is supporting a major national anti-trafficking prevention campaign to increase awareness of the problem among vulnerable groups. This year, with support from IOM, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs launched a strategic initiative outlining a framework of action for the government, NGOs, and civil society to combat trafficking. IOM also collaborated with the Ministry of Home Affairs to carry out training sessions in several districts to enhance the capacity of law enforcement agencies and immigration officials to address trafficking in Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh has made progress in improving the quality of and access to basic education, with significant advances in the number and quality of school facilities; curriculum revision; provision of textbooks; and enhanced management practices. The Government of Bangladesh is implementing a second phase of the National Plan of Action for Education for All for the period 2003 to 2015, which embraces all of the goals of EFA for making education compulsory, accessible, and allinclusive. Recent government efforts have included the abolition of tuition fees for primary schools, the establishment of a 500

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million taka (USD 8.7 million) stipend program, and a food for education program. Due to critical needs in its education system, the Government of Bangladesh is receiving intensified support from the World Bank and several other donors in order to expedite its eligibility for fast track financing for the Education for All program. In February 2004, a multi-donor consortium announced the Primary Education Development Program (PEDP II), which aims to enhance the quality, access to, and efficiency of primary education by operationalizing key aspects of the governments EFA and Poverty Reduction strategies. As part of its Country Program 20012005, the World Food Program provides meals for non-formal primary education students in areas with low enrollment. The Program also provides supplementary snacks and skills training to adolescent girls.

Works of NGOs About 69 national & international NGOs are working for street kids in dhaka.among them prosika, brak, disha are notable.they are working to establish their rights,sanitain,education.some ngos provides free health cheak up for them. Some creat shishu polli ehich is like orphange house.SOS is one the international organizations.they have establish a ccenter at shamolly in dhaka. Non-government organizations employ a wide variety of strategies to address the needs and rights of street children. These may be categorized as follows:

Advocacy - through media and government contacts agencies may press for the rights of street children to be respected. Preventive - programs that work to prevent children from taking to the streets, through family and community support and education. Institutional o residential rehabilitation programs - some agencies provide an environment isolated from the streets where activities are focussed on assisting children to recover from drug, physical or sexual abuse.
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full-care residential homes - the final stage in many agencies' programs is when the child is no longer in the streets but lives completely in an environment provided by the agency. Some agencies promote fostering children to individual families. Others set up group homes where a small number of children live together with houseparents employed by the agency. Others set up institutional care centers catering to large numbers of children. Some agencies include a follow-up program that monitors and counsels children and families after the child has left the residential program.

Street-based programs - these work to alleviate the worst aspects of street life for children by providing services to them in the streets. These programs tend to be less expensive and serve a larger number of street children than institutional programs since the children still must provide for themselves in the streets. o feeding program o medical services o legal assistance o street education o financial services (banking and entrepreneur programs) o family reunification o drop-in centres/night shelters o outreach programs designed to bring the children into closer contact with the agency Conscientization - change street children's attitudes to their circumstances - view themselves as an oppressed minority and become protagonists rather than passive recipients of aid.

Many agencies employ several of these strategies and a child will pass through a number of stages before he or she "graduates". First he/she will be contacted by an outreach program, then may become involved in drop-in center programs, though still living in the streets. Later the child may be accepted into a halfway house and finally into residential care where he or she becomes fully divorced from street life.

Conclusion:
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Children living on the streets are still undergoing development, despite their life conditions. They experience risks and challenges that, at the same time, may jeopardize their development and promote the acquisition of strategies for dealing with life on thestreets. There is some evidence that economical pressuresand emotional disturbances in the family expose children to larger risks than do the conditions of the street (Hecht 1998, Hutz and Koller 1997, Matchinda 1999). Street children often face larger risks thanchildren in general because they are exposed to negative physical, social, and emotional factors at home and still have to deal with the challenges of life on the streets. On the other hand, there is evidence that the conditions of life on the streets lead to the development of coping strategies that are adaptive and that may help to strengthen their cognitive and socialskills.

References:
1. ^ http://www.unicef.org/evaldatabase/files/ZAM_01-009.pdf UNICEF assessment of street children 2. ^ Human Rights Watch- Abuse of Street Children 3. ^ Page 8, Section 2.2. "State of the World's Street Children-Violence" (PDF). www.streetchildren.org.uk. http://www.streetchildren.org.uk/reports/State%20of %20the%20World's%20Street%20Children-Violence.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 4. ^ Page 2. "State of the World's Street Children-Violence" (PDF). www.streetchildren.org.uk. http://www.streetchildren.org.uk/reports/State%20of %20the%20World's%20Street%20Children-Violence.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 5. ^ "Don't Call Me Street Kid Campaign English Home". www.iadb.org. Archived from the original on 2008-05-18. http://web.archive.org/web/20080518154350/http://www.iadb.org/kidscampaign/. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 6. ^ a b "Street Children: WHO 3 of 9". www.pangaea.org. http://www.pangaea.org/street_children/world/who3.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 7. ^ "Rugby Boys in the Philippines". Blogspot.com. http://paranaquephilippines.blogspot.com/2010/01/rugby-boys-in-philippines.html. Retrieved 2010-12-04.

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8. ^ a b c "A-rabs and Arabs", John McIntyre, Baltimore Sun. "The Oxford English Dictionary locates this sense of a homeless little wanderer, a child of the street in a citation from 1848." 9. ^ Charles Dickens. Household Words: Volume 10, Bradbury & Evans, 1855. "street+arab" Page 335 10. ^ "XVII. The Street Arab. Riis, Jacob A. 1890. How the Other Half Lives". www.bartleby.com. http://www.bartleby.com/208/17.html. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 11. ^ Page 64, Section 7.1.1. "State of the World's Street Children-Violence". www.streetchildren.org.uk. http://www.streetchildren.org.uk/reports/State%20of %20the%20World's%20Street%20Children-Violence.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 12. ^ "Street Children "our lives our words" - NI 377 - The Facts". www.newint.org. Archived from the original on 2008-01-25. http://web.archive.org/web/20080125015705/http://www.newint.org/issue377/facts.ht m. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 13. ^ "UNICEF - Press centre - British Airways staff visit street children centres in Cairo". www.unicef.org. http://www.unicef.org/media/media_39599.html. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 14. ^ "Street Children "our lives our words"". www.newint.org. http://www.newint.org/issue377/facts.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-15.[dead link] 15. ^ "IRIN In-Depth". www.irinnews.org. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx? ReportId=69987. Retrieved 2008-02-05. o Russia 1 million "Doctors of the World - USA: Health is a Human Right". www.dowusa.org. http://www.dowusa.org/news/article/russia-study-2007. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 16. ^ "World Street Children News :: Children in detention in the Philippines :: November :: 2003". streetkidnews.blogsome.com. http://streetkidnews.blogsome.com/2003/11/14/children-in-detention-in-thephilippines/. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 17. ^ Tremlett, Giles (2001-06-15). "Guardian". London: www.guardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,4204467-103681,00.html. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 18. ^ a b http://www.sescsp.org.br/sesc/revistas_sesc/pb/artigo.cfm? Edicao_Id=329&breadcrumb=1&Artigo_ID=5145&IDCategoria=5903&reftype=1 19. ^ "Growing number of street children in Germany, report says : Europe World". www.earthtimes.org. http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/191615,growingnumber-of-street-children-in-germany-report-says.html. Retrieved 2008-03-22. 20. ^ "No night out for street kids - JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM". www.jamaicaobserver.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-15. http://web.archive.org/web/20070915045057/http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/h tml/20070404T2300000500_121358_OBS_NO_NIGHT_OUT_FOR_STREET_KIDS.asp. Retrieved 200802-05.

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