Currently, 46 percent children in Bangladesh are living with multidimensional poverty, reports BSS.
The poor children have less opportunity of getting healthcare and education as they have to do low-wage work after entering the labour market at the early age. That's why they cannot come out of the vicious circle of poverty.
There are different types of poverty among the children of the solvent families. They suffer from mental poverty despite having the scope of enjoying basic rights like education and health.
Concerned people said while framing a policy to face multidimensional poverty of the children, it is needed to take into consideration the different types of poverty of the higher and middle income families.
In this connection, they opined that one-way policy cannot remove the multidimensional poverty of the children.
Researcher Fahmida Khatun said the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) prepared a report on human development in 2017 by taking 103 countries into consideration and holding the multidimensional poverty index.
The report mentioned that 26.5 percent people of these countries are poor and the rate was 48 percent in South Asian countries. And among them, nearly 50 percent are children.
The poverty rate in Bangladesh came down to 20.5 per cent in the fiscal 2018-19. The figure was 21.8 at the end of 2017-18 fiscal year.
Extreme poverty rate also dropped to 10.5 per cent in 2018-19, which was 11.3 per cent in 2017-18, according the data of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
Fahmida Khatun, however, said there are a huge number of children in Bangladesh who are living with multidimensional poverty.
"So, we've to take steps for achieving proper capability in removing this type of poverty of the children," she observed.
She said it is not possible to analyse the issues of education, health, nutrition and growing up naturally only through income and poverty. To analyse the poverty situation, taking various dimensions of poverty into consideration is needed.
The poverty could be measured by keeping ahead education, health and living standard through multidimensional poverty analysis method.
In the field of education, there are two important issues -- one is presence at the school and another is completion of study, meaning not to be dropped out from the school. On the other hand, fuel of cooking, sanitation, safe drinking water, electricity, housing and resources are considerable issues in measuring living standard.
She said the poor children suffer from malnutrition as well as they are deprived of education and getting rights to live properly.
"At one stage, they get engaged in child labour and fall into the trap of less productivity and low wage. So, to solve these issues, a coordinated policy is required," she said.
Social Policy Expert Hasina Begum said children consist a large portion of Bangladesh poor population. Poverty is measured in Bangladesh on the basis of per capita income.
The yardstick of poverty is made by fixing ability of purchasing 2,221 calories of food daily as a basic demand, she said, terming measurement of poverty through income as a partial outlook.
Though children of some families live over the poverty line, they may suffer from illness, lack better housing and could be deprived of education.
Many countries have taken the issue of considering poverty multidimensionally. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) put emphasis on assessment of multidimensional poverty.
The number of the poor people in Bangladesh could be rise further if the poverty is measured through multidimensional poverty index.
Multidimensional poverty measurement is the proper method for eliminating poverty. The same method is applicable for the children too.
Bd-Pratidin English/ AM
