The Child Brides: Send Them to School instead

Anjali is a 9 year old from Rajasthan, India. She loves drawing, watching movies and painting her hands with beautiful henna designs.

Anjali is a lucky girl. She goes to school every day and her parents support her desire for education.

Anjali is a lucky girl, because not every girl in her village has the opportunity to study. Her cousin, Rani, who is just one year older, got married last summer. In a couple of years, Rani will leave her parents’ to move with her husband’s family.

 In Anjali’s school, there is a girls’ parliament called the Bal Sabha (Girls' Council). During Bal Sabha sessions, young girls are taught life skills. They have the opportunity to speak up about their concerns, and by doing so, they gain confidence.

Anjali really likes being part of the Bal Sabha. She particularly enjoys the dance and theater performances they put together. Two months ago, the Bal Sabha girls presented a short play in front of their classmates.

Anjali was playing an Educate Girls’ volunteer visiting a house where a young girl was about to get married. Anjali’s character had to convince the parents to stop the wedding from happening and to send their daughter back to school instead.

The issue of child marriage is quite problematic in the region, and Anjali had to use many arguments to explain why girls should get educated instead of being married off so early. The story had a great impact on the audience and many students had something to recount at the end of the performance.

Since Educate Girls started its program six years ago, more than 52,000 girls have been re-enrolled. Our 1,600 volunteers work tirelessly to improve government-school infrastructures and to increase teaching performances. They show communities how to take care of their schools by submitting School Improvement Plans to the local government. So far, 2,445 such plans have been submitted by school management committees and already 54% of them have been completed!

Almost 11,000 girls are trained as Bal Sabha leaders in the three districts where Educate Girls is implemented. These young girls grow up educated and confident, with knowledge that will help them all their life.

Since the play was performed, Anjali talked to one of Educate Girls’ volunteers. She mentioned her cousin’s marriage and the fact that Rani didn’t go to school any more.

Our volunteer has been to Rani’s house several times to talk to her parents. After much persuasion, they have finally agreed to send their daughter back to school until the time comes where she will leave their home.

Now Rani and Anjali walk to school together, play and do homework in the evening!

Please donate now on Global Giving to send more girls back to school:

http://www.globalgiving.org/donate/5054/educate-girls/

Thank you for your support!

*Name changed to protect the identity of the child

Links:

• website

Have you ever wondered how your life would be if you had been married as a child? 

What would you do if you had in-laws to look after and household chores to handle?

What would happen to school, games, and friends when the only thing that is important for you is serving the dinner on time?

In Rajasthan, India, these questions unfortunately form a part of daily lives of many young girls. Even today, 68% of them are forced into early marriage!

This disturbing tradition remains very prevalent even today and it burdens the whole society. In fact, it directly impacts the community’s economic growth and its social well-being. Underage marriage not only penalizes young girls but also their family and the entire community. As the UNFPA’s State of World Population Report sums up “If adolescent girls in India had been able to wait until their early 20s, the countries would have greater economic productivity equal to over $7.7 billion.”

Educate Girls challenges this status quo. We encourage communities to abandon this archaic custom of child marriage and send daughters to school instead. Since we started our program, six years ago, more than 52,000 girls have been re-enrolled into schools.

One such girl is Sharda.

She is 12 and had been out of school for two years. Her parents were thinking of marrying her, but thanks to our volunteer’s persistent follow up and counseling, she escaped this fate and got re-enrolled. After talking repeatedly with our team, her parents agreed to send Sharda back to school and wait for a few years to get her married.

Had it not been for Educate Girls’ intervention, Sharda would have been expected to leave her family as soon as she reached puberty. She would have had to move into her in-laws’ house where she would have been responsible for cleaning, cooking and taking the cattle to the grazing fields. With no education, she would have had no further prospect in life. She would have been confined to her home and dependent on her husband for everything in life.

Thankfully Sharda will not have to experience this.

She will study before getting engaged. Eventually, she will use her education and life skills learned in school to improve her employability and earning prospects. More importantly, she will be able to provide her own kids with education and a better health care. Thanks to education Sharda will reach her full potential and make a life for herself.

If you want to help girls like Sharda, support our program by telling your friends and relatives about our work. We also encourage you to donate online via Global Giving: 

http://www.globalgiving.org/donate/5054/educate-girls/

Thank you for your generosity! 

*Name changed to protect the identity of the child