Tettariya says goodbye to child marriage!

Tettariya, Morang, Sept. 7: Sumitra Sardar still remembers how her parents decided to force her into marriage at 16.

Coincidently, she was attending a training on anti-child marriage at that time. So she vowed to postpone her marriage until she was 18 and told her family that she would stay single for at least the next two years. As her family refused to listen to her, the headmaster of her school, facilitator of the local Child Club, and other people went to her home to convince them.

Even then her family stood against her decision. At last, all the villagers were called to the VDC office, where they were explained about the health and social complexities that an early marriage could create. They also informed the groom's family about it. Sumitra's early marriage was cancelled.

This is one of the dozens of cases in Tettariya VDC in south east Nepal where child marriage used to be a part of the social customs in the Dalit community.

But, recently, children have fought against the social malpractice on their own with support from other stakeholders working for them.

Seema Khan is another example. Her marriage was stopped even though she was about to reach 18 years of age, the minimum age set by law for marriage. Members of the local Children’s Club had to seek police help to stop Seema's marriage. She got married after two months after she reached 18.

Due to increased awareness among the children, Tettariya witnessed zero child marriage last year. A couple of years ago, there were cases of about 7 to 10 child marriages in the village.

There are child clubs in every ward and in the schools, and there is a Child Club Network at the village level.

Children of Tettariya assemble to propose projects and programmes for children at the meeting of the Village Council. Last year, they demanded a library, science lab and playground in every school.

"Such facilities should be available in every school. If there is a shortage of budget, then there should be a library, science lab and playground at least in the village so that they can be used by all the schools," said Renuka Bhujel, member of the local Child Club.

Child Club Network facilitator Rohini Khan said that a Village Children’s Assembly has been organised every year. Such assembly has 80 to 90 children representing all the wards and ward-level clubs.

Tettariya has 14 Child Clubs.

The Children’s Assembly finalises the programmes for children and submits it to the Village Council Meeting.

Child Club Network facilitator Khan said that about 90 children were associated with those clubs.

As the government has made provisions to spend 15 per cent of the VDC budget on Child Friendly Local Governance (CFLG), their programmes have higher chances of getting approval from the Council meeting.

CFLG budget has helped to address the problems and demands of children in the village, said Diksha Chaudhary, president of Child Club Network.

The CFLG initiative has become an effective intervention on such social malpractices and enhanced the capacity of children about their rights and social roles.

There is a Village Child Protection Committee (VCPC) in every village to work against child marriage, child labour, corporal punishment and child trafficking.

"The Village Child Protection Committee played a crucial role in stopping Seema's marriage," said Raj Kumar Bishwas, coordinator of VCPC Tettariya. He said that gender discrimination, alcohol abuse and tobacco use were on the decreasing trend.

Nepali Congress village committee member Kiran Kumar Bishwas praised the kids for being able to make plans on their own.

"Sometimes, they propose innovative plans which have not been realised by the VDC office and leaders. Child marriage was one such example. Public toilets are also demanded by them," said Bishwas.

Tettariya was declared a Child Friendly Local Governance VDC by the government in March this year. It implemented the CFLG concept a decade ago and worked hard to meet all the indices set by the government.

Tettariya VDC and Village secretary Bishwa Mani Neupane became the best village and secretary respectively. Neupane has been awarded by the 'Janasewa Shree Medal' this year.

Children of Tettariya now are invited by other villages and municipalities to share their experience about the CFLG initiative, while many other come here to observe the development.

The VDC welcomed about eight such groups last year.