New Delhi: In a bid to advocate in favour of the ‘Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat’ campaign launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, SOS Children’s Villages India drove an awareness campaign across its village locations, on prevention of child marriage.
The objective of this nation-wide campaign was to strengthen community understanding of child marriage prevention and highlight the importance of protecting children’s rights. Community members were sensitised about the legal minimum age for marriage 18 years for girls and 21 years for boys.
The session emphasised that marrying at the appropriate age supports better physical and mental well-being, enables children to enjoy their childhood, continue their education, and grow into confident and self-reliant individuals.
At the end of the sessions, all participants took an oath to prevent child marriage. These sessions were conducted as a collaborative effort by the Family Strengthening Programme, Family Like Care Programme, and the Kinship Care Programme.
Sumanta Kar, CEO, SOS Children’s Villages India said, “Children across our various programme locations participated in the awareness drive aimed at eradicating child marriage in India. The role of education here is immense. We should all join hands to champion children’s rights and well-being and report any case of child marriage to the authorities.”
More than 150 participants attended the session in Guwahati, seeing the highest participation across all locations. Alibaug saw 52 female participants take part in the awareness campaign, followed by an awareness activity. A capacity-building programme was implemented at Varanasi with 45 participants, while the Bhopal session brought together 40 girls from the SOS Children’s Village along with 10 girls from the Family Strengthening Programme and 10 girls from the Kinship Care Programme. 28 children actively participated in the awareness drive held at the Greenfields, Faridabad Village.
