Early marriage
The state of getting married before being mature enough to get married is simply referred to as early marriage. Like most of the countries in the developing world, adolescent and child marriage in our country seem to be a strong social evil, mostly for girls living in rural areas. The young girls, the worst victims of forced marriage, are not having a sigh of relief from the malady of early marriage. Statistics show that as many as 75 percent of rural girls in Bangladesh get married before the age of 16 and only 5 percent between 18 and 20.
The drop out rate of female students at secondary level is alarming as far as the newspaper reports are concerned, with about 30 percent dropped out at this level. Early marriage, however, is believed to have been the main reason behind the situation. Among other reasons for the drop out are inability of guardians to bear the expenses of education and lack of security, superstition and lack of awareness which, we believe, instigate the guardians to marry their daughters off earlier than expected. On top of that, the obsolete mindset of our parents towards their daughters has often been blamed for the social disease, as in most of the cases they feel anxious as long as their daughters do not get married.
Needless to say, much has been done against the ill practice but nothing pragmatic came out. Special law to prevent early marriage is in operation but sorrowfully with no proper implementation. As a result, it has taken a drastic condition, worsening the situation more and more. On an average, girls married off as adolescents attain lower schooling levels, have lower social status in their husbands' families, suffer higher rates of maternal mortality and domestic violence. The consequences of this strong social norm are many, including higher population growth, greater spread of disease, and a higher incidence of orphaning.
The socio-economic and psychological effect of the ill custom has always been far-reaching. The inherent development of talent of the young girls meets premature death due to the archaic custom. In no way should the ill practice be allowed to go on. We need to work together to root out early marriage from every sphere of our society.
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