Child labourers turn entrepreneurs

"The idea for a tailoring business came to us after we joined a vocational training programme a few months ago," 16-year-old Fazila Khatun, one of the girls, said.

Khatun recalled that her life earlier was limited to mixing soil, making mud balls, moulding, carrying heavy wet bricks for drying and finally putting them into the furnace.

She was one of the 40 girls of Majlispur, which is notorious for using child labour in brick kilns, who were given basic tailoring skills by an international NGO.

After completion of a six-month course, each of them were given sewing machines to begin their lives as entrepreneurs.

Another girl, 17-year-old Taslima Khatun, 17, who also slaved in the klins said they began their entrepreneurship by stitching clothes for local people.

"This helped us polish our skills. Then we slowly started approaching small manufacturing units. They liked our work and so now they give us regular orders," she said. MORE