Teaching Story - Bal Panchayat

by Life Positive

“Child marriage is a real problem in our village,” 12-year-old Chand tells a UNICEF officer at a Bal Manch (children’s forum) meeting in the Thar desert. “Over 50 girls are already married and more will be. I saw a seven-day-old girl married in her mother’s arms. How can she be a wife when she does not even know she is getting married?”

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Chand’s concern is recorded by the group and put on the agenda of issues to be addressed within a month’s time in the northern desert state of Rajasthan.

This is also on the agenda of children’s parliaments, which are catching on throughout the entire country.

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