Boost Education to End Child Marriage, says Education Campaigner

Photo: ITA / Saba Mushtaq

Child marriage is one of the biggest challenges to securing a quality education for all children. Yet in Pakistan alone, the legal right to 12 years of education is often unfulfilled: children spend only 4.7 years in school on average. The fact that 40 per cent of girls in Pakistan are married before the age of 18 is a significant factor in the shortfall.

Theirworld has partnered with Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) on the first Child Marriage Free Zone in the Matiari district in Pakistan. Last week Baela Raza Jamil, Education Campaigner and Trustee for ITA, wrote a blog on Child Marriage for the #UpForSchool page on Huffington Post, recounting her experiences of meeting local campaigners – mothers, daughters and pupils – who are determined for change. She writes:

“With a full cycle of education, girls can learn more, earn more, be less at risk of harm and protect themselves from being victims of child marriages. More than that, with a full education they would help break the poverty cycle and let their families and communities prosper.”

Click here to read the full article. Click here to read more about the Child Marriage Free Zone.