The country worries about kishor gangs. But what has it built for teenagers?
Bangladesh’s Teen Safety Debate Must Look Beyond the Gang Label
Bdbusinessdaily.com – The killing of 13-year-old Ishayat Shahriar Apratim in Cumilla has again placed adolescent safety and juvenile crime at the heart of public concern. The shock is intensified by a wider picture of vulnerability: police figures for January through July show 15,717 children were reported missing, including 15,243 aged 10 to 17. While 13,679 children were rescued or returned to their families, 2,038 had still not been found when Police Headquarters released the data.
Public anxiety is often expressed through the phrase kishor gang. Law-enforcement drives against these groups have become more visible, and the latest Dhaka Metropolitan Police list names 122 active criminal gangs in the capital. Their alleged offences include mugging, drug dealing, extortion and contract killing. Serious crimes require serious legal responses, especially when children and communities are placed at risk.
Yet the label can conceal as much as it reveals. Of 893 gang members whose ages were documented, 152 were under 18—roughly 17 percent. A further 322 were between 18 and 20. The figures point to groups that include young people but are not made up only of children. Police and researchers have also highlighted the roles played by older criminals and influential backers.
That distinction matters. A discussion focused only on young people with weapons can overlook a more difficult question: what safe, meaningful and accessible places has society created for teenagers to spend their time, build confidence and feel that they belong?
Space to grow is disappearing
Iraqi Field in Azimpur illustrates the problem. Once a substantial neighbourhood playground, much of its nearly four-acre area is now occupied by temporary commercial activity. The remaining space leaves far less room for local children to play.
This loss is not limited to one field or one neighbourhood. In June, the Directorate of Primary Education instructed government primary schools to prepare for compulsory sports from Class IV. The same directive acknowledged a striking limitation: almost 11,000 government primary schools do not have a playground.
Plans for 101 parks and efforts to assess the needs of school grounds are important, but they also underline how large the shortage has become. A usable field is not simply a place for future athletes. For a 14-year-old, it can offer routine, friendships, mentors, teamwork and a connection to the neighbourhood.
Football and cricket can serve that purpose, but so can swimming, scouting, theatre, debate, music and photography. Teenagers do not stop wanting friendship, recognition and identity when these activities are unavailable. They may simply look for them in less healthy settings.
Safety limits children’s freedom
A 2026 study titled Towards a Child- and Youth-Friendly Dhaka: Co-Creating a Rayer Bazar to Grow Up in found that just 2 percent of Dhaka’s children could access parks and play areas. Its Rayer Bazar survey offered a closely observed picture of how restricted urban childhood can be: only four in 10 children were allowed to go outside alone, and 30 percent did not play outdoors at all.
Parents’ concerns were understandable. Unsafe roads, traffic accidents, fears connected to kishor gangs and worries about sexual harassment for girls all shape family decisions. But the result can create a difficult cycle. Children are kept indoors for protection, neighbourhood life becomes less child-friendly, and opportunities for independent social development continue to shrink.
Safety should not mean that children are effectively excluded from public space. It should mean streets, parks, school grounds and transport routes are designed and maintained so children can use them with greater confidence. For girls in particular, accessible recreation must include an environment where participation is not conditioned by fear of harassment.
Education is not the same as a reading culture
Bangladesh places strong emphasis on academic achievement, but academic pressure does not automatically encourage reading for enjoyment. The 2025 University of Dhaka study Cultivating a Reading Culture: How Parents’ Perceptions of Reading Shape Their Practices in Bangladesh found that many parents viewed reading chiefly as a tool for school performance. Fiction and other non-textbook reading were often treated as distractions, leading some families to restrict children’s access to such books.
This creates a contradiction. Young people may be urged to study constantly while receiving little support to read because they are curious, entertained or inspired. A voluntary reading habit can give adolescents a private intellectual space as well as a route into imagination, empathy and discussion.
Libraries can help make that space real. Bangladesh’s mobile library service reaches about 3,200 locations using 76 vehicles, and proposed upazila cultural centres are expected to include libraries. The central issue, however, is everyday access. Teenagers need places that are welcoming, nearby and easy to enter—not facilities that require unusual effort, money or permission to use.
When the screen becomes the default
Research on leisure in Dhaka has identified a movement away from outdoor activity and toward digital gaming. Technology is part of that shift, but it is not the only reason. Safety fears, demanding school schedules, family circumstances and dense urban living can all make screen-based leisure the most available option.
Digital life is not automatically harmful. Young people use the internet to learn, communicate, create art, maintain friendships and join communities. Online spaces can be valuable when physical spaces are scarce. The concern arises when screens become the only realistic choice for recreation and social connection.
There are also genuine risks online. A UNICEF poll involving almost 29,000 young people in Bangladesh identified misinformation as the most commonly reported concern. That challenge cannot be met through alarm alone. Teenagers need media literacy, trusted adults, room for conversation and alternatives that make offline life feel worthwhile.
A wider response is needed
Accountability for violence is essential, and no community should excuse crimes because an offender is young. But prevention cannot begin and end with arrests. It must also ask why so many adolescents encounter limited play areas, few cultural spaces, intense academic expectations and public environments their families consider unsafe.
The country’s concern over kishor gangs should therefore become a broader commitment to adolescent life. Safe parks, functional school grounds, local libraries, sports clubs, cultural activities and secure routes through neighbourhoods are not peripheral amenities. They are part of the social infrastructure that gives young people reasons to belong without being drawn toward harmful groups.
Bangladesh’s teenagers need protection from crime. They also need a city and a society that leave room for them to grow.
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