Child marriages: Andhra govt to launch massive awareness campaign against this menace

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to launch a state-wide awareness campaign against child marriage.

Chief Secretary K S Jawahar Reddy held a meeting with UNICEF representatives and discussed how to eliminate child marriage.

“If child marriage is not eliminated, it is impossible to restrict maternal mortality rate (MMR). That is the reason why the government is according to utmost importance to eradicating child marriage,” he said. Child brides often become pregnant during adolescence, when the risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth increases.

To completely eradicate child marriage, state-wide awareness campaigns will be undertaken, including identifying girls who dropped out of school and readmitting them.

According to the officials, many girls in the villages are getting married at a very early age. The majority of the dropouts in the village level schools are girl children. To control child marriages, registration of marriages has been also made compulsory.

With several initiatives to promote girl child education, the government junior colleges are being set up in every Mandal to encourage girls to study further, thus eradicating child marriage.

A toll-free number is needed for the public or the children themselves to tip off authorities on underage weddings.

According to UNICEF data, despite a steady decline in this harmful practice over the past decade, child marriage remains widespread, with approximately one in five girls married in childhood across the globe. India alone accounts for one-third of the world's child brides.

Multiple crises including conflict, climate shocks, and the ongoing fallout from COVID-19 are threatening to reverse progress towards eliminating this human rights violation. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals call for global action to end child marriage by 2030.