MALAPPURAM: At a young age of 18, Mubeena M N returned to her college as a newlywed girl—brightly clad, wearing gold ornaments on her mehndi-smeared hands—after a break of 15 days. The young girl got married under parental pressure. She was promised her that she could attend college after marriage.
When it comes to wedlock in the Malappuram district of Kerala, not many girls would be lucky enough. They would either retire from their studies or just drop out to take care of their husbands or the in-laws. The disturbing trend, however, ends up in a number of seats at reputed institutions going waste even as wards might be languishing at some self-financing colleges.
Growing ordeal
Figures collected from various colleges in Malappuram point to this growing syndrome. They state that nearly 10 per cent of the girls at mainstream colleges have to say goodbye to their college lives after marriage.
“As long as you have parents who don’t want to think about anything else but the wedding of their daughters who are coming of age, the trend will continue unabated. Girls always want to study, but when they reach a point where they cannot resist any more pressures, they relent,” said Shahina Mol, assistant professor at Unity Women’s college, Manjeri. A survey made this year by the principal of the college found that 385 out of 1,015 students were married.
It further revealed that 60 girls were mothers while 30 were expectants, meaning they could be tagged potential dropouts who might have to leave the college even if they didn’t wish to.
Cut-off from Education
Alavikutty P M, principal of PSMO college, Tirurangadi, said that at least one third of their girl students quit college every year after they get married. The co-ed college, where girls make up 81 per cent, has seen on an average of seven per cent of girls stop coming to class without any information.
“A lot of students decide to leave the college half-heartedly when marriage over-burdens them. Who could carry such huge multi-tasking at so young an age?”
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The annual report of Malappuram Government College disclosed that nearly 10 per cent left the college in last academic year. “You cannot blame the students but they are forced to leave when they find they fail to balance between marital and collegiate duties,” said assistant professor Mammad N.