Lack of awareness and poor economic conditions of parents, and prevalence of eve teasing are main reasons behind early marriages of children in the country, said child parliamentarians yesterday.
Raising awareness among parents, increasing of stipends for female students and stopping eve teasing can help reducing the early marriages, they said.
Some 84 children from the country’s 64 districts, including representatives from marginalised communities, attended the 12th session of the Child Parliament at the auditorium of the Local Government Engineering Department in the capital.
The representatives of the mock parliament for children shared their personal experiences at the session on “Child marriage Hampers Education and Protection”.
Jibonnesa, a child parliamentarian from Narshingdi, said though she managed to stop her marriage, she could not have the engagement of that marriage cancelled. She cannot go to school now because of the engagement.
“I was a victim of child marriage. With the help of the local people, I could manage to stop the marriage,” she said.
“But, one of my friends could not stop her marriage, and she delivered a dead child. Now she is working at a garment factory in Savar,” she added.
Asif Hossain, another child parliament from Barguna, said on an average 66 percent girls in the country get married before the age of 18.
Speaking on the occasion, Jatiya Sangsad Deputy Speaker Fazle Rabbi Miah said the government will not change the existing minimum age limit for marriage of girls. The age limit will remain at 18 years, he said.
Representatives of the local government and marriage registrars have to play more roles to stop child marriage in the country, he said.
The ministry of law should engage more manpower to their programmes to ensure strong monitoring of marriage registrations, he added.
“I agree with all the recommendations put by the child parliamentarians. I will share those with the law makers at the Jatiya Sangsad,” Fazle Rabbi said.
“I will communicate with the deputy commissioner of Narshingdhi to motivate the parents of Jibonnesa to send her school and take necessary steps regarding her education,” he said.
The Child Parliament is the advocacy wing of the child rights organisation National Children Task Force (NCTF) which has been working on UNCRC implementation in Bangladesh since 2003.
Over 40,000 registered NCTF members between 12 and 18 years are working at district level to raise awareness on child marriage.
With technical support from the Save the Children, Plan Bangladesh and World Vision, Bangladesh Shishu Academy (BSA) is helping to run the advocacy.
