Teacher, activists prevent child marriage in Kolkata

Image for representational purposes only.
| Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

Sujaya Roychowdhury Pal, a teacher in charge of a State-run girls’ school in Kolkata, could not be any happier on Teachers’ Day when she found that one of her students was participating in the celebrations on Thursday.

A few months ago, the girl had stopped coming to school. On enquiry, Ms. Roychowdhury had found that her parents had planned to marry off the underage Class IX student.

“When I asked the parents about the marriage, they refused to admit. I could not do much at that point and turned to Sujata Bhattacharya from an NGO called BITAN,” the teacher said.

While parents were preparing for the marriage, they continued to send their child to school to avoid any suspicion. The NGO conducted a field investigation. Posing as insurance agents and striking a conversation at a local eatery, they found out about marriages in nearby areas. The NGO informed the Child Welfare Committee, Kolkata, and District Child Protection Officer, Kolkata, only after they were certain about the marriage.

“It was found that to save a monthly rent of ₹2,000 of the small house they lived in, the girl’s parents were getting her married to the son of the flat owner where they lived. Her parents signed an undertaking and promised to not get her married before the legal age of 18,” Ms. Bhattacharya, programme manager at BITAN, said.

“I am happy that the girl is not only back at the school but is serious about her studies. She is a kind of student that everybody loves. She will appear for the Class X board examination in February 2025,” the teacher-in charge said.

BITAN is one of the NGOs working across India as part of the Child Marriage Free India campaign. The campaign uses awareness, counselling and legal intervention as important tools to stop such marriages and aims to end child marriage in the country by 2030. 

West Bengal records one of highest cases of child marriage in the country. The National Family Health Survey-5 held between 2019-21 found that in West Bengal, 41.6% of women aged 20-24 were married before the age of 18, which is one of the highest in the country. This is compared to the national average of 23.3%.