GUNTUR: The officials should work in coordination and prevent child marriages completely in the district, said Bapatla district Collector Vijaya Krishnan in a review meeting on Nadu-Nedu works on Wednesday.
Speaking on the occasion, she said that as many as 610 children outside of schools are identified in the district and despite the efforts of officials, child marriages are still prevalent in the district. She also observed that girls aged between 12 to 15 years, are falling prey to this.
As per NFHS-5, (National Family Health Survey), the erstwhile Guntur stood fourth in the State in child marriages with 35.4%. The ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) officials have stopped more than 50 child marriages, in the past three years and are conducting various awareness campaigns including counselling programmes to parents to educate them on the disadvantages of child marriages to prevent them.
The officials identified that the deteriorated financial conditions of the parents due to the pandemic are making the parents desperate to marry their underage daughters. She said that the government is giving high priority to education and Rs 35 crore are allotted for the development of 543 schools in the district.
She also instructed the officials to identify the girls, who were forced into child marriages and join them in gurukul schools, so that they could continue their education. She also directed the officials to educate the parents of the outside children and enrol them in schools without fail.