Pyuthan, 29th January, 2015Â : Child marriage is on rise in Pyuthan district, one of the districts with high child marriage rate.
There are 579 cases of child marriage of those below 10 years while the number of those who got married aged between 10 and 14 stands at 9,908. Similarly, those tying the knot below 19 years of age stands at 60,122.
With the rise in the cases of child marriage, the cases of reproductive health problem have also surfaced highly of late in the district, shared Meghraj Bhatta, Chairman of the District Child Welfare Board (DCWB), Pyuthan.
Having witnessed the rising child marriages in the district, DCWB Pyuthan has been running an awareness campaign in schools to discourage children from it.
“There has been increasing issues in the reproductive health of girls due to early marriage,” said Chairman Bhatta, opining that there should be an end to this practice to reduce such health cases.
Stakeholders here asserted that the budget allocated by the government for awareness drive on female reproductive health has been city-centred, including in Pyuthan district.
Many girls who get married early are unaware about family planning. Their childhood is spent in nurturing their children. Take for instance Nama Pun (name changed), 17, from Arkha VDC of Pyuthan.
This juvenile girl is a mother of two and expecting another one shortly. When she got married, she did not know what marriage was like nor did she know anything about contraceptives.
“During giving birth to the second child I got to understand what marriage was like and what it would entail,” admitted Nama, who was also unaware about the government-aided programmes aimed at pregnant women during pregnancy and delivery.
Sushil Simkhada, the Child Rights Officer at the DCWB, Pyuthan, argued that children (often, teens) choose to get married early at their will rather than under the external pressure.
Still, to lessen the child marriage and its unfavorable consequences, the DCWB, Pyuthan has been running ‘Child marriage minimization campaign’.
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