Bengal stresses on making boys aware alongside girls to stop child marriage

With a view to preventing child marriage further in the state, the West Bengal government has laid emphasis on building awareness among boys besides girls about the harmful effects of this social practice, a minister said on Tuesday.

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"It's not the girls alone; boys also have to be educated about the ill effects of early marriage, and they should be demotivated from marrying before their legal age of marriage too," Dr Shashi Panja, Minister of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare, said at a State Level Consultation on Adolescent Empowerment here.

The programme was attended by government officials from various departments working in the districts to end child marriage.

Panja urged the officials gathered to share their experiences in fighting the menace since the launch of the District Action Plan three years ago and the later Child Marriage Reporting and Tracking Mechanism.

The state reported more than 41 per cent of the girls getting married underage in the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS) released in 2020-21.

Additional District Magistrates and other officials attending the programme said that many boys are getting married below 21 years of age.