SAMBALPUR: Free and compulsory education for all children under the age of 18 can play a pivotal role in ending child marriage as there is an inverse relationship between education and child marriage, revealed a research paper titled ‘Educate to End Child Marriage: Exploring linkages and role of education in elevating age at marriage for girls in India’.
Sharing the insights of the research, a city based NGO Association For Develpoment And Research In Socio-economic Activities (ADARSA) on Saturday appealed political parties to take up the matter in their election manifesto.
Releasing the paper in Sambalpur, ADARSA, a coalition partner of Child Marriage Free India campaign, demanded that while the Centre and state government’s will and action to end the social crime is commendable and yielding results, firmer steps need to be taken to amplify this fight against child marriage. Drawing from the finding in the paper, the NGO asserted that the education of all children up to the age of 18 years be made free and compulsory and also urged all political parties to incorporate this important issue in their election manifestos for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“Led by women activists and village leaders, we have stopped 818 child marriages in Sambalpur. However, there is an urgent need to make education a top priority across the country” members of ADARSA stated.