#Dreams Left Unfulfilled

ALMOST 39,000 GIRLS BECOME CHILD BRIDES EVERY SINGLE DAY , OFTEN MARRIED TO A MUCH OLDER MAN.

“I want to study”, said aashima, but was given a tight slap and was refused to continue it.Just think, what was her fault?She was only 12 at that time when she wasforced to give her hands to someone else , his “so”- “called” “god”and her only main duty left wasto fulfill all his wishes and take care of his family. But the question is that why was she slapped, when she refusedto marry? Was this her age to get married? What made the family able to believe that she could take care of another family? Wasmarriage more important than studying? She wanted to become a doctor but all she could reach up to was, becoming someone’s wife.

As per the report of UNICEF’sstate of the world’s children, every year, 47% of Indian women between the age 15-18 gets married in urban and that is not it , to much surprise, there are around 56% of girls in rural area who got married before the age of 12 inthe rural areas. Isn’t this a serious issue? Though most of the people, in the present scenario are well educated and know the importance to educate their daughters and marry them at the right age only. But what about others? The ones like aashima , who are forced to become a bride, could have been an asset for the country but aren’t given enough opportunity for it. What was her fault? The age of her, that was designated for making her dolls get married, she was married. Everyone was happy on the day of her wedding except her because she knew that now nothing would remain the same from now.

EDUCATING GIRLS IS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL TOOLS TO PREVENT CHILD MARRIAGE.

Child marriage has an adverse physical and mental effect on the children. The age in which aashima was married , was her age to hold pencils , pens and books and not her kid. Why her parents didn’t understood that? The effects of child marriage even includes, the early maternal death of the young mother as her body is not physically fit to handle a condition like that. It is also observed that the infants born to the young mother, mostly die inthe first year of birth due to the poor nourishment during their growth in the womb. As per the research conducted, it is also observable that child marriage victims are often prone to domestic violence and child abuse.The poor mentality of people regarding child marriage is that , the illiterate people think that the cost of money spent on the study of the child wouldn’t be useful, as in the end they also need to spend, money as dowry for them, so why not save money which was to be utilized for studying? Second misconception regarding child marriage is that, the rate of dowry increaseswith age. Why every year , hundreds of girls like aashima are forced tolose their dreams in the holy “havan kund” of marriage? Theynot only lose their dreams but evenlose their soul, freedom and the right to her life.

The people should bemade aware regarding the wrong they are doing with their daughters life. It is evident that when girls are given equal chance in the form of educating them , they prove equal to or even better to boys. Government should take more strict actions in order to reduce poverty, as poverty has proven to be one of the major cause of child marriage.