Child marriage and right to education

I still remember Dadu Sindh’s mother who was barely fifteen or sixteen years old. Her son was crying uncontrollably in her arms. The son was being taken care of by the mother and not by himself. The girl in the pink traditional dress did not understand how to make her few-month-old child shut up.

On one side in the courtyard, an international donor was talking about his project, how the family had been fitted with a machine, which would improve the economic conditions of the family. With my camera in hand, taking pictures, I moved towards the women’s section. But I was attracted by the sound of the baby crying. According to the mother, the baby was bubbling due to hunger. I thought this girl wants to breastfeed her baby and maybe she is shy because of me. I said that it is ok, I will turn my face to the other side and give him milk. But there were tears in the eyes of the mother that what to feed the child without milk in the breast. I asked, told a doctor or midwife? She said no doctor or any such concept, the baby was also born at home. How will milk flow when there is nothing to eat?

When I think of writing something on child marriage, I always remember two girls, a young mother bouncing her son laughing as he came into this world after three sisters. The other mother who was restless with the child’s hunger. Seeing them, the first thought that came was that why do we make girls mothers?

We all know that Pakistan is among the few countries in South Asia where child marriage is common. According to UNICEF data, child marriage is highest in Bangladesh at 51 percent, while the lowest is in Maldives at 2 percent. Afghanistan has 28 and India with 27 percent. But in Pakistan this number is 18 percent.

UNICEF data also says that child marriages in Pakistan under the age of 15 years go up to 2 percent for boys and 3.6 percent for girls. Similarly, 18.3 percent of girls under 18 years of age and 4.7 percent of boys under 18 years of age are married off. The purpose of writing all these data here was to understand how young marriages are done in our country.

According to the UNICEF data, the good thing is that there is a clear difference between the 2014 and 2019 figures of underage marriages in Sindh. The biggest difference came in Tindu Muhammad Khan, where the number fell from 48 to 14. This was followed by Larkana where the number fell from 37 to 21. The data also showed a trend that some places saw a difference of only a few numbers, like in Karachi East, the number fell from 22 to 21, and in District Central, Kim Sunny marriage was recorded down from 14 to 13. Similarly, there has been a difference of one number in Jacobabad and Sanghar.

Ever wondered what is the main cause of child marriage in Pakistan? Let’s examine the basics of what are the factors that make child marriage or child marriage prevalent in our country. Lack of education, economic situation and thinking of daughter as a burden has made this problem bigger. But if compulsory education is introduced, surely other factors will also improve.

According to the latest Census 2020 of the Department of Statistics, there were 1,115,687 married girls in Pakistan, compared to 301,741 boys. According to the data, 5,254 minor boys and 21,654 girls were married. Now you can guess in which direction this situation would have gone today. That is, the economic crisis caused by covid, floods and climate change, in which the first thought of parents is to get their young daughters married off their shoulders.

As far as I can see, the main reason is our lack of education. Which affects every family in Pakistan. Whether his residence is in a city or he is a resident of a village. We have made good laws to prevent child marriage but we are not able to give basic education to our girls. According to Article 25 A of the Constitution, it is the responsibility of the Government of Pakistan to provide free basic education to every Pakistani child up to the age of 16.

The right to basic education was given to every Pakistani in 2010 but the government did not fulfill its responsibility properly. The report of the Department of Statistics Census 2020 shows that only 69.1 boys and 53.44 girls go to school, while 17.84 boys and 15.38 girls could not study beyond primary. Consider that even in 2020, only 2.35% boys and 2% girls of our population were pursuing higher education.

We understand that every parent wants their children to study and excel, but statistics tell a different story. What is the reason that we do not pay the attention to education as it should be given? The first and simple reason is that the education budget set by the government is 3.55%, which indicates the seriousness of the government towards education.

We know that we have the highest number of young people in the world. If our children will be educated, they will lead their lives with better thinking and action in whatever field of life they are in. Will make thoughtful decisions. Because change in thoughts and ideas does not come at once. If we want social and societal problems like underage labor and early marriage to end, we have to constantly address these aspects with better legislation.

If your children, especially girls, get basic education i.e. Matric or Inter, their whole life can be improved. They will not only become better mothers but will also be able to raise children better. Education can not only prevent child marriage in the society, but thoughts and ideas can be directed in a better direction.

Note: Express News and its policy do not necessarily agree with the views of this blogger.

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