BENGALURU: The Department of Women and Child Welfare for the first time has included pre-university (PU) college principals as child marriage prohibition officers (CMPO), whose responsibility is to prevent any girl child studying in their college from marrying before 18 years.
The deputy commissioner, superintendent of police, district social welfare officer, district child protection officer, revenue officer, block education officer, protection officer, tahsildar, panchayat member and panchayat development officer were earlier designated by the government as CMPOs.
A government order issued by the under secretary (Department of Women and Child Development Empowerment of Differently Abled and Senior Citizens) on February 4 orders to include PU college principals, director, directorate of child protection and all the district coordinators working with child helplines.
According to the department’s earlier order, the duty of CMPO is to create awareness and sensitise the community about provisions of the Child Marriage Prohibition Act (CMPA) and harmful effects of child marriage. It stated that they shall primarily prevent child marriages.
Experts, however, pointed out that there are over 30,000 CMPOs in the state and with the inclusion of PU college principals and others, the number will go up. But these CMPOs are not trained time to time, which might not serve the purpose.
Nagasimha G Rao, Director, Child Rights Trust, said appointing PU principals as CMPOs is a positive move. But these officers should receive proper training, legal support, and motivation to effectively prevent child marriages. The Supreme Court has emphasised the importance of appointing dedicated CMPOs, highlighting that multi-tasking officials may struggle to focus on their statutory duties, he said.
He said regular workshops and training programmes are needed to educate CMPOs about their roles, responsibilities and the legal framework surrounding child marriage.
The stress should also be on CMPOs accessing legal resources and support to help them navigate complex cases and ensure effective enforcement of PCMA. “The government should stress on recognition and incentives for CMPOs who successfully prevent child marriages and support vulnerable children,’’ he added.