BAJURA, Dec 24: With the objective of abolishing child marriage, three community schools of Chededaha Rural Municipality have started a joint campaign to deprive the couple practicing early marriage from various facilities and privileges at the schools.
As per this new rule, married students of these schools will be denied scholarships and won't be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities as well. In addition to this, if those students try to leave the school and join another due to this particular reason, they won't be provided with transfer certificate.
A survey conducted by an organization states that around 70% marriages in the district are child marriage. In ward no 1 and 2 of Chededaha, altogether 304 marriages were fixed in the last three years and surprisingly all of them were child marriages.
According to Rajendra Bahadur Singh, principal of Malika Secondary School (MSS), Gajra, education and awareness are not enough to control child marriage. So, this campaign has been launched.
Kanda Bhawani Secondary School (KBSS), Kanda and Devsthali Secondary School (DSS), Matesanghu, Jayebageshwori have agreed to join the campaign too.
Students practicing early marriage to be deprived of various fa...
It has been found that more number of girls get married at an early age in comparison to boys. Child marriage is especially prevalent in the communities engulfed by poverty, informed Min Bahadur Sarki, a local.
Sources say that there are currently around two dozen couples in KBSS alone. Equal numbers of couples are studying in MSS and DSS.
According to Bikram Budha, captain of a child club, the decision taken by these schools is very positive. "We welcome and appreciate the decision and hope this will bring change," Budha said. Meanwhile, Nitesh Singh, chairperson of the club, has urged the parents not fix the marriage of their children at a tender age.
The campaign has received a positive response from the ward chiefs of Chededaha 1, 2 and 3 and other stakeholders. Nar Bahdur Rawat, chairperson of Chededaha Rural Municipality said he will do his part to implement the decision. Radio Bajura has also announced to support the initiative.
