Forging social resistance for ending child marriage urged
BSS
RAJSHAHI: Speakers at a training session have unanimously called for forging a social resistance for ending child marriage and teenage pregnancies for providing an opportunity for girls to acquire a broad set of livelihood prospects in future, reports BSS.
They viewed child marriage is just one of the numerous challenges and problems of adolescent girls all over the country and this prevents them from attaining their maximum potential in life due to complications that come in their way.
Responsive role of teachers, parents and leaders of influence has become an urgent need to ensure adolescent-friendly reproductive health services to all the target people for substantial and sustainable reduction of child marriage and child pregnancy.
To this end, there should be effective measures of bringing the schoolteachers and others concerned under need-based training on the issue so that they can teach their students and guide them properly.
The observations came at the closing session of a two-day teachers training styled School Based Adolescents Awareness Raising held at Nachole Government Primary School yesterday. Eradicating child marriage and child pregnancy is imperative in creating a glorious Bangladesh was the theme of the training programme.
Agriculture Sustainable and Socio-Economic Development Organisation (ASSEDO) and GKS jointly organised the programme in association with Prevention of Child Marriage and Child Pregnancy Project and Oxfam-Novib.
More than 25 teachers including two females from five high schools in Nachole Upazila joined the training.
Upazila Parishad Chairman Abdul Kader, Upazila Nirbahi Officer Rashed Washif, Assistant Secondary Education
Officer Dulal Uddin Khan, ASSEDO Trainer Khaleda Khanom and Project Manager Nurul Islam addressed the training sessions as resource persons.
During his welcome address, Rabiul Alam, executive director of ASSEDO, said there is no alternative to create community awareness through raising school-based awareness on adolescence for combating the existing rate of child marriage.
He said the project aims to involve community people so that they can play vital role to change the social mindset on child marriage and child pregnancy.
Besides, the venture intends to build awareness among the adolescents about their rights on reproductive health, he added. The practice of child marriage is very damaging, especially for girls. It seems girls are treated as a burden to society, once again, mostly in rural areas. Terming the child marriage as a major violence and gross violation of human rights, they said there is no alternative to check it substantially.
Despite multifarious interventions by the government and non-government organisations concerned, the child marriage is taking place frequently. It is vital to increase awareness about the negative impacts of early marriage through the use of the mass media. They stated that utmost importance should be given to addressing the menace of early marriage of children. Otherwise, the family planning activities will go in vain. Apart from this, the violence against women couldnt be reduced to a greater extent.
