School girls vow to resist early marriage, dowry

They made the pledge at a seminar on Early Marriage and Dowry, held on the school premises with its headmistress Abeda Khatun in the chair.

Held with the slogan --Amar Sonar Paribar (my golden family)the seminar was organised by Italian funded NGO Rishilpi.

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Speakers at the seminar, including schoolgirls, also called for creating awareness among people against vices like early marriage and dowry.

They also urged the government and NGOs to take up programmes for women's education, particularly among backward sections of society and in rural areas.

The speakers included Rishilpi's Education Support Programme Animator Augustin Gain, Mridula Rani Mondal, Shafi Siddique, Maniruzzaman Titu, schoolteacher Nasrin Khan Lipi, Kanchan Bannerjee and schoolgirl Josna.

They said much of the violence against women is due to illiteracy and lack of women's empowerment.

They praised the initiative by Rishilpi to hold such seminars at schools, saying these will create awareness among adolescent girls and their parents also.

Headmistress Abeda Khatun said due to early marriage, four girl students of her school met with premature death. She urged all the students of her school not to marry at an early stage.

Shubhankar Das moderated the seminar, which concluded with a musical soiree.