State Minister for Women and Child Affairs Meher Afroz Chumki on Wednesday said the Government is working to reduce child marriage by taking consideration of its factors including alleviating poverty and providing educational facilities.
“Girls won’t be able to get married before the age of 18 . . . If the female child becomes more educated and aware, the rates of child marriage in Bangladesh will come down significantly,” she said while speaking at a discussion in the capital.
Chumki underscored the need for changing mindset of people and the society to remove the discriminatory attitude to about two crore female children in the country.
Jatiya Konya Shishu Advocacy Forum (Advocacy Forum for National Female Child) organized the discussion at Shishu Academy Auditorium on the occasion of International Women’s Day, with its vice-president Shaheen Akhter Joly in the chair.
Chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Dr Mizanur Rahman was present as the special guest. Among others, Director of Bangladesh Shishu Academy Mosharraf Hossain and former Director General (DG) of National Academy for Educational Management (NAEM) Prof Iffat Ara Nargis also spoke on the occasion.
The state minister said both male and female must work together to ensure the development of women and children.
Without keeping confined to the campaign and activities only for a single day, she called for building mass awareness regarding this.
Speaking on the occasion, NHRC Chairman Dr Miazanur Rahman said, “Sex discrimination bars the development of women and female child. . . But it was not mentioned in the religion at all and it is really untrue, baseless and fabricated.”
He said in case of discrimination in the society, children are very vulnerable. “If we can ensure the rights of women and show due respect to them, none can hinder the progress of our society,” Dr Mizanur added.
Later, three renowned personalities were honoured for their outstanding performance in different fields. They are: language veteran Prof Sharifa Khatun, freedom fighter Shirin Banu Mithil and two gold-medals award-winner in the South Asian Games (SAF Games) Mahfuza Khanom.
Besides, the state minister also unveiled a cover of journal titled “Narir Kotha-11” in the function.
As part of the International Women’s Day programme, a rally was brought out at 9 am today from the Teachers-Students Centre (TSC) of Dhaka University and ended it at Shishu Academy in the city.
