HYDERABAD: High-school students from various government schools across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh gathered in the city on Thursday. The occasion was not to compete in a quiz show or to solve a jigsaw puzzle, but to share stories and personal experiences of child marriage and its implications on their lives.
They engaged in a discussion titled, Bala Sabha, ‘Child Champions, Views of Children on Child Marriages and their Consequences’, moderated by Save the Children, an NGO that supports children in education, health and nutrition.
The discussion started with a short role-play where children depicted an aggressive father, who forces his daughter into marriage, a child who dies after a complicated pregnancy and one who doesn’t like the fact that her education is being compromised. “We need to stop child marriages for a number of reasons.
Children who are just learning about themselves are definitely not capable of taking collective decisions or raising a child. They also have to undergo unnecessary physical and mental stress,” expressed 13-year-old Sai Pallavi who came for the meeting from Kothapally in Kurnool. Pallavi also shared an incident from back home where the children in her school prevented a child marriage from happening.
“Her name is Revathi and she is senior to me by two years. The teacher at the school was calling her names and put her through a lot of mental stress. Her parents decided that marriage would get rid of these troubles. We tried to stop them, but they didn’t listen to us. We then called Child Line,” recalled Pallavi.
The children also discussed the impact child marriage can have on education and stall their growth.
“Children have to decide when they want to marry. They should be given the right to their life and education as mentioned in the United Nations Convention of Child Rights,” said Y Pravalika, a Class nine student from Kothapet in the city.