Education is our fundamental right. It is a primary foundation for human beings to reach their full potential. Although universal education is established in the country, the children of tea garden workers are deprived of most facilities and live subhuman lives. The picturesque tea gardens wrapped in green carpets are one of the key driving forces of the country’s economy.
However, behind this eye-catching beauty lies the painful story of the daily struggles of tea garden workers. Sylhet is the district of “two leaves and a bud.” In this way, the name of the Sylhet region is inextricably linked with tea, and its reputation has spread worldwide because of it.
According to the Bangladesh Tea Board, the total number of registered commercial tea gardens in Bangladesh is 172, most of which are located in the Sylhet division. Thousands of children live in the families of approximately 100,000 workers employed in these gardens. According to local newspaper sources, opportunities for quality primary education for garden children remain extremely limited.
Although there are primary schools run by the government and garden authorities in some gardens, most primary schools fail to play an effective role due to teacher shortages, infrastructural issues, and distance. According to multiple surveys by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and UNICEF, while the primary school enrollment rate for tea garden children averages around 70% to 75%, it drops alarmingly by the time they reach the secondary level. Only 20% to 25% of children can cross the threshold of secondary education.
The main reasons for tea worker children being deprived of the light of education are extreme poverty and child labor tendencies, a lack of quality schools and teachers, malnutrition and inadequate healthcare, as well as language and cultural isolation.
Incidentally, the daily wages of tea workers are extremely negligible compared to current market prices. As a result, to manage the household, many parents are forced to stop their children’s education and send them in search of work or involve them as temporary garden workers from an early age.
A 2019 survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) showed that due to malnutrition in the tea gardens of the Sylhet region: 45% of children are stunted, 27% are wasted, 47.5% are underweight, 46% of teenage girls are married before the age of 18, and 22% of them become mothers, 67% of families lack minimal sanitation facilities.
Regarding the rights of tea workers’ children, Mr. Basundra Barri, Assistant Manager at Ali Bahar Tea Estate (adjacent to Malnicherra Tea Estate), stated: ‘We do not employ anyone under the age of 18 in the tea gardens across Bangladesh; in this regard, we strictly adhere to the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006.
Ensuring the necessary facilities and materials for the primary education of workers’ children is a legal responsibility of garden owners and authorities, which we properly maintain. While it is true that there are many limitations, we strive to address them on a priority basis.’
Integrated initiatives are needed to bring tea garden children back into mainstream education and ensure their bright future. Special government initiatives, scholarships and nutrition programs, awareness campaigns, health, and sanitation are crucial.
Although the tea industry has introduced Bangladesh to the world stage, the children of the primary architects of this industry remain deprived of their right to education today. If the educational opportunities and fundamental rights of these children can be secured through specific steps and joint public-private initiatives, only then will the tea industry prosper alongside thousands of children seeing the light of a brighter future.