Teenage pregnancies can be attributed to a combination of social, economic, and systemic issues,” said Parashu, former member of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KCPCR) and founder of Odanadi Seva Samsthe.
“During extensive field visits to rural pockets and surveys we conducted, one striking finding was that closure of government schools has become a major contributing factor to child marriages, which in turn, directly leads to teenage pregnancies. When schools remain shut, either due to administrative lapses or lack of facilities, young girls are pushed into early marriages under the pretext of reducing the family’s financial burden,” he said.
Even more worrying is the role of microfinance pressure on rural communities. In several cases, when families are unable to repay loans, they are compelled to get underaged daughters married to men who, in return, promise to settle the debt. “Such distressing instances are not isolated they are being reported from multiple areas and need urgent attention,” he said.
He also points out to the growing influence of technology. With children and teenagers spending long hours on mobile phones without adequate supervision, their exposure to sexual content online has dramatically increased.
This not only shapes their perception of relationships but also makes them vulnerable to exploitation. During my tenure, both at the state and national levels, proposals were made to introduce stronger regulations to restrict access to harmful content and to create digital safeguards for children. Unfortunately, the urgency of these measures has still not been fully realised.
Unless society, the government, and communities come together to tackle intersecting issues like education, financial vulnerability and digital exposure, teenage pregnancies will remain a silent crisis in rural Karnataka and beyond, he said.
Parashu, founder, Odanadi Seva Samsthe