Rafiq (not his actual name) from Islampur in Jamalpur fell into a difficult situation: He was poised to sit for the secondary school certificate exam in February but he could not concentrate on his studies. The reason? His elder brother beats up and rebukes him frequently – pushing him to the point of severe depression.
Moreover, his parents do not save him when his elder brother beats and rebukes him.
He got very depressed in the first week of February and made a phone call to 1098, a helpline number he found in a newspaper in 2018.
It was the number of Child Helpline International’s Bangladesh unit. It is a collective impact organisation with 155 members from 133 countries and territories around the world.
“He phoned the helpline and was still crying. He was asking how he could get rid of it,” said Tabiur Rahman, a psychosocial councillor at the helpline centre who has been working with Child Helpline International for more than five years.
The psychosocial councillors understood that Rafiq had a mental breakdown.
He tried to calm down the young boy by counselling him over the phone.
Later, he got connected with his parents over the phone and provided counselling to them as well.
It came out that Rafiq would play at a time when he was supposed to study.
On the other hand, his elder brother put pressure on him so that Rafiq would continue his studies and stand on his own feet.
His elder brother could not complete his studies and wishes that it would not happen to his younger brother.
The helpline centre had 10 more sessions over the phone. The psychosocial councillor talked to Rafiq on 17 March.
He is now doing well and his elder brother has realised his mistakes when it came to handling a child.
Like Rafiq, around 1,000 children make phone calls to seek help from the Child Helpline 1098 every day.
“Children who are being tortured, neglected, runaways, and children who are thinking of committing suicide call our helpline for help. We provide counselling,” Bangladesh Child Helpline Manager Chowdhury Md Mohaimen said.
More importantly, this helpline number is toll-free. That is the caller does not need to spend money to call and get support from the helpline.
Anyone can seek assistance from the helpline which is open 24/7.
The conversation and the children’s identity are kept secret.
It supports the most vulnerable children who are socially and economically disadvantaged and living in rural and urban areas of the country.
Meem (not her actual name) made a phone call to the helpline from Barisal.
She is studying in class eight. Her family is unable to afford the school fees.
Her father died of kidney disease three months ago.
They are very poor, and her mother is physically ill, but somehow the family survives with what she earns by working in other people's houses.
The child called 1098 seeking school fee waivers and financial assistance.
The helpline provided support through para-counselling sessions to help the child not break down and to strengthen her morale after hearing the problem.
An application was submitted from the organisation to the headmaster of the school seeking a waiver.
The upazila social service officer and child protection social worker of the concerned area and the child's family were requested for a visit.
On the advice of the upazila social service officer, the child protection social worker visited the child's family and had a detailed discussion with the mother and tried to understand their problem.
The headmaster of Meem’s school allowed her to study without pay and also has been regularly checking up on her.
An initiative was taken to bring Meem’s mother under the social security net.
The helpline was first taken as a pilot project Protection of Children at Risk (PCAR) in 2011 in the old part of Dhaka city by a local NGO financially supported by UNICEF Bangladesh.
After its successful intervention, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched the countrywide helpline in 2016.
Later, the government took up the project Child Sensitive Social Protection in Bangladesh (CSPB) Project with the support of UNICEF.
The second phase of the project is scheduled to end in December of this year.
Last year, the child helpline received a total of 3,25,414 phone calls.
A total of 3,692 child marriages were stopped, 12,161 children got counselling over the phone and 28,551 children were linked with different government offices and non-government organisations for further support.
The helpline provided legal aid to 14,734 children.
In the first two months of this year, the helpline received a total of 43,122 phone calls.
However, the helpline manager said that the project is scheduled to close in December 2024 and the government has not yet taken any steps to bring the initiative under the revenue sector.
