Child marriage a matter of concern in Tripura

Agartala, Dec 19: Child marriage remains a critical concern in Tripura, with the state’s rate of child marriage being 11.9 per cent, which is significantly higher than the national average.

This was revealed by experts during a media workshop titled ‘Promote a Public Narrative on Increasing the Value of the Girl Child’, which was held in Agartala on Wednesday.

The workshop, which was aimed to create awareness about the alarming prevalence of child marriages in the state amongst the media fraternity, was organized by Guwahati-based Centre for Development and Peace Studies (CDPS) in collaboration with UNICEF India.

The workshop brought together prominent speakers, including Wasbir Hussain, editor-in-chief of North East Live and founder member of CDPS, Yogesh Pratap Singh, founding vice-chancellor of the National Law University in Tripura, Pranab Sarkar, editor of Headlines Tripura and president of the Journalist Union, senior journalist Sayed Sajjad Ali, Dr Debasree Debnath, assistant professor of NLU, Oineetom Ojah, associate editor of NEL and Purvi Malhotra, communications specialist of UNICEF India and Laxminarayan Nanda, child protection specialist of UNICEF India.

The speakers emphasized that child marriage remains a critical concern in Tripura and the state’s child marriage rate of 11.9 per cent is significantly higher than the national average.
They stressed that child marriages end childhood and adversely impact education, health and safety , ultimately perpetuating poverty across generations.

While discussing trends, the speakers pointed out that the prevalence of child marriages in India has declined from 47% (2005-06) to 27% (2015-16). However, the figure remains high and reflects deeply rooted gender inequality and social norms.

The participants acknowledged the underreporting of child marriages in Tripura, as many incidents go unrecorded due to a lack of centralized monitoring systems.

More than 36 journalists from across the state participated in the programme. They agreed that the workshop served as an eye-opener and would help them improve their reporting skills to raise awareness and address the issue effectively.

The workshop underscored the media’s critical role as a tool to combat child marriage by addressing the socio-cultural and structural factors justifying this practice.

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