Social initiative to prevent child marriage stressed

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BSS, Rajshahi :
Speakers here yesterday called upon conscious people for social initiative towards building a society free from child marriage. They viewed that flourishing their latent talents together with building them as educated and worthy citizens could be the vital means of founding Bangladesh as a dignified nation in near future.
The observations came at a workshop and view-sharing meeting titled “Child Marriage Prevention Rules 2017 and Draft Recommendations” held at Pourasava conference hall in Chapainawabgonj town. District Women Affairs Office and National Girls Child Advocacy Forum (NGCAF) jointly organized the discussion in association with Plan International.
Deputy Director of Department of Youth Development Nahir Uddin, District Primary Education Officer Abdul Kader, college teacher Sirajul Islam and Programme Officer of Department of Women Affairs Rita Rani Paul addressed the meeting as resource persons. Altaf Hossain, president of NGCAF, chaired the discussion.
Acting Pourasava Mayor Saidur Rahman, District Children Affairs Officer Shafiqul Islam, development activist Md Shahjahan and NGCAF Coordinator Subrata Kumar Paul also spoke.
More than 40 members of the civil society including officials of all line departments, professional leaders, school teachers and other stakeholders were present in the meeting.
They said responsive support from the community, especially teachers, parents and influential leaders is a must for reducing child marriage. They also mentioned there is no alternative for creating community awareness through raising school-based awareness on adolescence for combating the existing rate of child marriage.
Terming child marriage as gross violation of human rights, they said children are being married off frequently, despite multifarious interventions by the government and non-government organisations concerned.
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