Classmates help prevent 12 child marriages through helpline number on report cards

In the days leading up to Akshay Tritiya, falling on May 10 this year, the child helpline received calls from young students across the district, alerting about child marriages. These calls provided specific details such as the names of the children, their villages, and the dates of the ceremonies. Prompt action was then taken by the child helpline, in collaboration with the police and local social activists, to intervene and prevent these marriages.

This successful intervention owes much to the proactive action of several school students who promptly reported their friends or classmates being forced into marriage. It is a direct outcome of a year-long awareness campaign against child marriages conducted in schools across Sambhajinagar, one of the 12 districts in Maharashtra identified by the National Family Health Survey as having a high prevalence of child marriages.

The initiative to print child helpline numbers on report cards is just one facet of a comprehensive awareness campaign implemented in schools to combat child marriages in these districts. Other activities include taking oaths against child marriage during morning assemblies, organising competitions such as essay writing and poster-making on the topic, and creating WhatsApp groups for teachers to share reminders and proactive steps to identify and prevent child marriages.

Dyaneshwar Rodge, District Coordinator for Girl Education from the Education Department, emphasised the collaborative effort involved in combating child marriages, stating that all schools are required to prominently display the helpline numbers and conduct awareness activities. Regular monitoring is carried out through a dedicated portal to ensure accountability.

“Apart from printing the child helpline number on report cards; all schools are instructed to display the number at all visible areas inside school premises. Students — girls as well as boys — are made aware of the consequences of child marriages in schools by teachers. This does not stop at only giving instructions, but we take a periodic overview of all activities by asking schools to fill data in a specially designed portal for this information, thereby holding schools accountable to conduct programmes,” Rodge said.

Rodge shared how earlier this year, a child marriage was stopped after a few girl students from a Zilla Parishad school informed their class teacher about their friend’s marriage. “This came to light when friends of this girl started noticing that she was unusually quiet and not participating in their regular games. Girls generally tend to open up in front of their friends,” he said.

“The Education Department has also initiated proactive measures, including monitoring prolonged absences of girl students and conducting counseling sessions for parents on child marriages at the start of the academic year,” said Jayashree Chavan, Education Officer (Primary education) from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.

As a result of these efforts, there has been an increase in the number of reported child marriages, with 32 cases prevented in the past year in response to information received through the child helpline.

Balkrushna Salunkhe, district project coordinator for the joint initiative by Department of Women and Child Development, Education Department, UNICEF and SBC3, an NGO, emphasised the ongoing challenges beyond prevention, such as identifying red-flag cases for further intervention and providing vocational training to at-risk children.

“The red-flag cases essentially mean that the particular child is most likely to be remarried by parents or family. Apart from keeping a constant vigil on such cases, we also enrol such children, especially girls, in vocation classes of skill education. The idea is to instil confidence in these children that they will be able to earn their livelihood on their own if such need occurs,” said Salunkhe, adding that among calls received by the child helpline, some have been by boys complaining against their own marriage. “A result of extensive awareness,” said Salunkhe.