Student
Dissertation 3rd Batch 
Exploring the Perception and Practice of Hygiene and Sanitation among the Tea Estate Families in Bangladesh
Md. Rezaul Haque
Abstract
There are 162 tea estates in Bangladesh, and the tea estate population is 359,085 (not including the tea estate population in the North Bengal). The history of tea plantation dates back to about 350 AD in China. In Bangladesh the first tea plantation was in Chittagong in 1840 and Malnicherra tea state in Sylhet (established in 1854) is the first tea estate in Bangladesh. The tea garden workers were brought to Bangladesh during the 1850s and 60s from different parts of India.As those tea workers were taken in the tea estates from different parts of British India, their sovereign system was replaced by the rules of the tea estate owners. The tea laborers were treated by the British owners much like the slaves. In the past long one and fifty years their socioeconomic situation remains almost unchanged and they are still treated almost like those in the British days. Tea estates are like isolated islands within the country. As the tea estate families are come from different places and treated in a different way, so their culture, tradition and cultural beliefs are different than that of ordinary Bangladeshi people. There is not much known about their life style especially their sanitation and hygiene status. Globally 1.8 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases (including cholera) in developing countries and 90% of them are under 5 children. 88% of diarrhoeal disease is attributed to unsafe water supply, inadequate sanitation and hygiene; in this context I explored the water, sanitation and hygiene situation among the isolated population of the tea estates of Bangladesh.
