Child marriages can be stopped only if girls are empowered through education.

This was the unanimous view of most experts on Friday at a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the Bihar chapter of Art of Living in collaboration with Unicef’s Patna branch. The theme of the programme was “Prevention of child marriages in Bihar”.

Art, culture and youth affairs minister Sukhda Pandey said child marriage is a curse, especially for a girl child.

She said: “Child marriage is a social evil and has its worst effect on the girl child. Girls who get married early are more susceptible to health risks associated with sexual initiation and childbearing. It also deprives most girls of education. Getting girls married at an early age, when they are not physically mature, leads to higher maternal and child mortality rates. Awareness drives need to be initiated to change people’s perception. Every child should have access to education.”

Pandey added that the state government has initiated schemes, which have helped in changing the perception of people towards the girl child. “Earlier, a girl used to be considered a burden by their parents but today the situation has changed. This has happened because of schemes like Mukhyamantri Balika Poshak Yojana, Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana and others. It feels good when we see girls going to schools on their bicycles in villages,” said Pandey.

Mansoor Qadri, the child protection specialist at Unicef’s Patna branch, said youths have to be the agent of change in social issues.

MLA Usha Vidyarthi said the state government’s decision of giving 50 per cent reservation to women in panchayats has yielded good results.

At the event, some mukhiyas (village heads) and residents shared their experience of how they stopped child marriages with the help of some organisations.