Budhiganga Municipality-4 of Bajura has declared itself a child marriage free zone.
Various governmental and non-governmental organisations working in the field of child rights in the district had been conducting public awareness programmes in the village to prevent child marriage.
However, despite the efforts of stakeholders and concerned bodies, the majority of the children of the ward get married before reaching 20 years. Considering this fact, the ward has been declared itself a child marriage free ward to rigorously prevent children from marrying before they reach marriageable age, said Min Bahadur Shah chairman of ward-4 of Budhiganga Municipality.
The locals vocally supported the announcement and promised to coordinate with the authorities.
“Earlier child marriage took place with parent’s consent and now the ward has been declared itself child marriage free ward. We can achieve the goal through community cooperation,” he said.
According to Shah, adolescent girls of all other nine local bodies of Bajura still get married between the age of 15-18 years after dropping their school. Shah said poverty is the major reason why the girls of the region marry before reaching the marriageable age.
“To prevent child marriage, the ward office has decided to introduce scholarships programme to assist girl child to continue their education,” said Shah.
Manisa Rawat, facilitator of Peacewin Bajura, said the ward has been declared free from child marriage in the presence of parents. “Local child clubs are also active in preventing the child marriage in the region. They have been spreading awareness and stopping child marriage. Despite their effort, child marriage still continues to take place because the concerned authorities are not taking effective action to control it,” she added.
Govindra Kumar Chaudhury, child protection officer of Good Neighbours International Nepal, said the children who get married at a young age face various physical, psychological and social consequences.
“Though the incidents of child marriages in the village has increased lately, the number of complaints related to child marriage in district police office is nil,” said Chaudhary.
As the ward has been declared child marriage free zone, from now on, no parents are expected to marry off their underage children.
Source : TRN,
