The authorities have suspended the primary school teacher from Chuadanga, who recently came under fire for marrying off her underage son to an 11-year-old fifth-grader.
Shamsunnahar, a teacher at Bagumpur Government Primary School, was suspended on Tuesday.
District Primary Education Officer Mostafizur Rahman confirmed her suspension.
According to Chuadanga Sadar UNO Shamim Bhuiyan, the action was taken as the marriage was a violation of the law.
“She gave a written statement, admitting that she had them married,” said Education Officer Uttam Kumar Kundu.
He added that the suspension came after repeated calls from the authorities regarding disciplinary action.
On March 20, Shamsunnahar married off her underage, college-going son to a fifth-grader of the same school she works at.
The incident came to light after neighbours reported the matter to the authorities.
Locals said that the marriage had been kept under wraps.
Meanwhile, Samsunnahar said that she had married off her son to fulfill the wishes of her ailing mother.
“My mother wished to see my son getting married before she died. We only followed the rituals; the marriage was not registered,” she said.
On Monday, the newly-wed girl was seen going to classes wearing a burqa, with marks of henna still visible on her hands.
The Kazi, Mofizul Islam, said he had done no such thing, adding that he had been framed.
The matter came to light at a time when it is learnt that at least 2,868 girls were victims of child marriage across the country in 2021, according to the National Girl Child Advocacy Forum (NGCAF).
A recent Unicef report states that 51.4% of girls are getting married before turning 18 in Bangladesh.
According to Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), some 13,886 girls between the ages of 10 and 17 years got married amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The research was conducted in 21 districts of the country.
