Activists told to prevent child marriages

Vijayawada: Village-level committees should be strengthened to prevent child marriages, said Krishna District Child Welfare Committee (CWC) member Safavi Syeda.

She was the chief guest at the coordination meeting organised by Mahita Plan International in collaboration with Krishna District CWC and Girls Advocacy Alliance (GAA) here on Thursday.

Addressing the gathering, she said the very purpose of constituting CWC was to protect the children in need with care and protection. She said that parents should take care of the needs of children failing which committees in the villages should facilitate them to the needy children.

GAA programmer Gode Prasad said that the state government has formed Child Protection Committees (CPC). Despite having such mechanism and structure at village-level, child marriages, sexual abuses, malnutrition, school dropouts and trafficking were on the rise, he said. 

He felt that society has to play an active role in strengthening these committees by creating awareness and participation to protect children, he added.

Bezwada Bar Association secretary Radha Kumari explained various legal awareness programmes which are being organised by the bar association which can be useful to committees.

NJBB director Bala Showry said that they have taken up 100 village-level Child Protection Committees to strengthen them. A poster was released on the occasion. Members of various NGOs and others participated in the programme.