Child Marriage Awareness in Nepal

World Issues

Republished from MyRepublica.com. Story by Ritesh Tripathi.

Teachers express worry about the dropout rates of the girls, who are married off at 10-years-old or under. These girls are at the mercy of their in-laws, stripped of all their freedom and rights, the young girls get accustomed to a life in the shadows. 

“However, this long held tradition is losing its grip over Madhesi society, and there have been signs of change,” states Akshchhaya Chaudhari, principal at Nepal Rastriya Higher Secondary School at Dumarwana village in Bara district.

“The movement against child marriage is sweeping through the villages in Tarai. The messages carried by songs, public speeches and drama have directly hit the heart and minds of the people forcing them to look at the issue differently,” he said.

Photo by Ritesh Tripathi

An hour long drama called Paschataap, meaningregret, is staged at local schools and other suitable localities in the villages in Bara, Parsa and Rautahat districts, where child marriage is most prevalent.

Similarly, public speeches on the issue by Narayani Zonal Police (NZP) Chief Sarbendra Khanal and heart-rending songs on the topic are necessary parts of the campaign. The anti-child marriage drive, led by NZP with the involvement of local groups including Youth for Change (YFC), has been going on for over a month.

 “The campaign has been so effective that some people across the border in Raksol of India have also formed a committee for similar reason. Child marriage is rampant on both sides of the border in Tarai,” said Chaudhari.

“Child marriage really ruins our lives. I have begun to feel that I, too, would have done something in life had I gotten the chance to continue my study instead,” said Sita Ghimire of Jummarwala VDC in Bara, the 24-year-old got married while she was in 6th grade. “Such programs should be launched even in far and mid-western region.”

Narrating a 3-year-old local case, a youth campaigner Sushma Sharma pointed out how child marriage is patronized by influential people of the society making it a hard to end the practice. “It was a case of marriage of an 11-year-old Yadav girl. Even the then CDO Nagendra Jha and SP Rajendra Shrestha were unable to stop her marriage due to pressure from the locals and politicians,” Sharma said.

“As cases of crime declined, the police directed its effort toward increasing its involvement in many social activities, working closely with the public. This changed the people’s mindset toward the police.”

President of the Children Service Center of District Police, Bara, Sabitri Sharma stated that Madhes is backward due to various reasons, but what ails the society most is child marriage. “The practice is most common among Madeshi, Tharu and Dalit community. It is estimated 75 percent of children here get married before reaching 20.”

The United Nations has rated Nepal among top 10 countries in the world that practice child marriage. While legal age for marriage in Nepal is 18 for girls and 20 for boys, 1 in 3 girls get married before that age.

Kiran Devi Jaiswal, a local of Simrangarh in Bara district, gave birth to eight girls in the hopes of having a boy. She did not think twice before marrying off her five of her daughters while they were still very young. Jaiswal was married at a very young age, she simply believed that grown up daughters could bring trouble to the family, more so, when you have too many of them. But thanks to the anti-child marriage movement in her village, Jaiswal is no longer desperate to marry off her younger kids. Rather she wants to further educate them.

“I feel I wronged my other daughters by marrying them early. Now let alone the youngest one, I will not look for a groom even for the two other older to her. I will educate them further,” said Jaiswal.