The headmaster of a Bengal school near Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's birthplace has set out for a journey with strong urges of request to combat child marriages has advanced the works of the social reformer who existed a century back. The social reformer also advocated for the education of the females.

Subhas Dutta has done a spectacular job when he played a major role in stopping twelve child marriages so far.

What triggered Dutta this time was fresh dropouts.

He says, 'We saw 55 students between Classes VIII and XII, dropping out of school in the past year. Among them, 27 are girls and most of them have been married off at this young age. This has concerned me as a teacher.'

Dutta was joined by two teachers and a few students on his mission. He has also been taking along beneficiaries of Kanyashree, a Bengal government scheme for the girl child to spread awareness. They are doing a door-to-door campaign talking to parents about the ill effects of child marriage and the laws prevailing currently in the country to combat this social evil. The team is looking to find a common solution based on the consensus of all.

Dutta is also working to bring back those boys who have left their schooling to take up jobs. Recently, he was successful in preventing the marriage of a Class IX girl.

Child marriage reflects the hypocrisy that is prevalent in the society. First, people say that the children cannot take up any responsibilities. Second, the society ignores the aforementioned when it burdens the children with the most difficult phase of life that is the responsibilities that arise out of this social institution called marriage.

Parents need to realize that they shouldn't sacrifice the lives of their children blinding themselves to the hypocrisy prevalent around. Education, not marriage is the key to a successful life for a child.

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References:-

• m.timesofindia.com
• www.arcattoscana.org
• http://rapguru.in