Highlights of Initiatives of Child Marriage in Bangladesh Part 6

Nasima Akhter Jolly
Deputy Director
The Hunger Project

Child Marriage is a very important issue in Bangladesh. The whole world including Bangladesh is committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and preventing child marriage forms a crucial part of it. The Hunger Project is working with National Girl Child Advocacy Forum (NGCAF) along with 186 organisations on the field level in different ways to combat the issue.

They are currently running a school-based campaign in 874 schools in 10 regions, a few of which are Jessore, Meherpur, Nouga and Rajshahi. 4 schools and 1 madrasa is targeted from each union. Firstly, a discussion is done with the head teacher. After taking permission, 6 types of short films are shown to the students on subjects related to self-confidence and stopping child marriage. Later, 5 children are chosen from each class to form a committee from classes 8 to 10. They are given the responsibility to see whether anyone from their classes is dropping out. If yes, they investigate the matter. If they discover that their classmate is getting married, they inform their teacher, who is also their mentor. Together they try to solve the matter through discussion, but if that doesn’t help, they approach the Union Parishad. Building groups among children give them strength and confidence and enable them to talk to each other about their problems. This way it becomes easier to find a solution. If there are complaints of eve teasing, the committee takes the responsibility of identifying the perpetrators and educating them.

Some schools don’t have proper toilet facilities which is one of the main reasons why girls drop out after puberty. The Hunger Project makes sure that schools have separate toilets for girls, and that water and sanitary napkins are always available. They also organise a yearly programme where schools are awarded on the basis of the children’s results, rate of dropout, sanitation and response to complaints.

There is still a lot to be done to eradicate child marriage and other related issues like sexual harassment and gender-based violence. In spite of all the efforts, there are reports where parents take their children to another area to have them married. The marriage of children can be completely eradicated only when the consciousness is aroused among parents not to let their children marry before the age of 18.