BAGLUNG: School children of Darling VDC in western Baglung have launched a campaign against child marriage.

The students are holding awareness programmes against the social problem at the local level. The members of Nawajagaran Child Club (NCC) formed at Siddhababa Secondary School in Darling-5 are actively involved in the campaign.

The organised children are seeking their rights both at school and home.They recently foiled the marriage of underage Pramila BK in Darling-5. Keshu BK, a local, had tried to marry Pramila, a school-goer.

NCC chairperson Deumaya Lamsal said, “Keshu invited Pramila to his house. Then, he claimed that she was his wife.” When Pramila cried and asked for help, members of the club rescued her, Deumaya said. “There is a strange tradition — if a girl stays a night in

the house of a boy, she will be called the wife of the latter,” Deumaya said.

“The children’s campaign has made the guardians aware,” Harimaya Acharya, patron of the club, said.

The VDC sees all kinds of marriage — child marriage, polygamy and forced marriage. Literacy rate is low in the VDC, a three-day walk from Baglung bazaar, the district headquarters.

“The club is playing a vital role in reducing social ills,” headmaster Rudra Prasad Acharya said. “The guardians need special orientation for awareness.”

The club recently organised a meeting of guardians of Darling and Rajkut VDCs. They had sought the guardians’ commitment to stop child marriage in the villages. What the elders agreed with the minors is yet to be implemented.

Various NGOs, elsewhere advocating rights of children, are absent in the remote

Darling VDC.