At an age when she should have been worrying about her Class 10 board exams, 15-year-old Pooja (name changed) was instead counting the days to her wedding.
In a village in Hingoli district, her parents had fixed her marriage to a 25-year-old man. The decision would have ended her education had her school headmaster not stepped in after noticing her sudden withdrawal in class.
Today, Pooja is back to studying for the SSC examination, her wedding cancelled, and her childhood restored, at least for now.
Child marriage, though outlawed, continues to disrupt the lives of girls across Maharashtra, particularly in the Marathwada region, where poverty and social pressure often outweigh the law. Every year, district authorities step in to prevent dozens of cases in which school-going girls are pulled out of classrooms and pushed into early marriage. The problem is most acute in Marathwada, comprising Beed, Parbhani, Jalna, Hingoli, Nanded, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv, which records the highest incidence in the state. According to the National Family Health Survey 5, 37.1 per cent of women in Hingoli were married before the legal age.
Pooja, the only daughter of daily wage labourers, is a Class 10 student at a government-run school in a village in Hingoli district. Earlier this month, her headmaster noticed a sudden change in her behaviour in class.
“She had become unusually quiet. I first spoke to her friends to find out what was wrong and then spoke to her personally,” the headmaster said. “She told me she was distressed because the wedding would mean the end of her education. As she opened up, she asked if something could be done to stop it because she wanted to continue studying.”
The headmaster, who is a member of the Village Child Protection Committee (VCPC), immediately informed the Gram Panchayat, following which the local child protection mechanism was activated. The VCPC is a community-based body responsible for child safety at the village level and includes the sarpanch, Anganwadi workers, women’s group members and police representatives.
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Members of the committee visited Pooja’s home last week and persuaded her parents to cancel the wedding. “We explained to them that child marriage is illegal and that they could face legal action. The mother was in tears, fearing that cancelling the wedding at the last moment would ruin her daughter’s future prospects,” the headmaster said.
He added that poverty had driven the family’s decision. “A daughter’s marriage is seen as a major responsibility. They wanted to complete it early, before it became more expensive. In such cases, awareness is more effective than punishment,” he said.
District officials said steps have been taken to ensure the family does not attempt to conduct the marriage again. The VCPC and school authorities are counselling the parents and supporting the girl so that she can continue her education.
Officials said several initiatives have been launched by the district administration and the Women and Child Development Department to curb the practice. In 2025 alone, the District Child Protection Cell prevented 44 child marriages, compared to 16 in 2024, following targeted awareness campaigns.
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After noticing a decline in the sex ratio, the district administration recently launched a special campaign against child marriage. District Collector Rahul Gupta said early marriage was one of the factors contributing to the problem.
“Girls married at a young age face high-risk pregnancies and have little say in family decisions. This also increases the risk of female foeticide. We have strengthened village-level vigilance to stop child marriages,” Gupta said.
As part of the campaign, registration of marriages with village authorities has been made mandatory. Wedding halls have been instructed to alert officials if they suspect a child marriage. Priests, imams and other religious leaders have also been directed not to solemnise marriages involving minors and to inform authorities if approached.
Pallavi Smart is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, Mumbai Bureau. Her reporting is singularly focused on the education sector, demonstrating exceptional Expertise and Authority across the entire spectrum of learning, from foundational schooling to advanced higher education. She is a highly Trustworthy source for policy, institutional developments, and systemic issues affecting students, teachers, and parents in Maharashtra.
Expertise
Senior Role: As a Principal Correspondent at The Indian Express, her designation reflects her seniority, specialized knowledge, and the editorial rigor applied to her reporting.
Core Authority & Specialization: Pallavi Smart is the definitive voice for Education news in the region. Her coverage scope is comprehensive:
Policy and Regulatory Changes: Reports on major shifts in educational policy, including the restructuring of entrance exams (e.g., MHT-CET adopting the JEE Main model), the draft regulatory framework for coaching classes, and revised teacher recruitment processes.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): Provides in-depth reporting on prestigious institutes like IIT Bombay and TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences), covering institutional initiatives, administrative debates (e.g., renaming IIT Bombay), and student welfare programs (e.g., mandatory mental health courses).
Teachers and Eligibility: Covers crucial issues affecting the teaching fraternity, such as the mandatory Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for in-service teachers and related controversies and application numbers.
Student Welfare & Rights: Focuses on issues concerning students, including the rollout of government scholarships, the financial strain on schools due to midday meal reimbursement delays, and instances of child rights violations (e.g., the Powai studio hostage crisis).
Admissions and Vacancy: Tracks the outcome of centralized admission processes (e.g., MBBS, BPharm) and analyzes vacancy concerns, providing essential data-driven insights for parents and students.
Credentials & Trustworthiness
Dedicated Beat: Her consistent focus on the "KG to PG" education beat allows her to develop unparalleled subject matter knowledge, ensuring her reports are accurate, detailed, and contextualized.
Proactive Reporting: Her articles frequently break news on policy and institutional planning, providing the public with timely, essential information about a sector that directly impacts millions of families.
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