Agartala: 17-year-old Jyotsna Akhtar almost saw her dreams come crashing down when her parents decided to get her married in May 2023. A resident of a minority-dominated village located in Belonia under South Tripura district, Jyotsna was a high school student and adequately aware of the perils of child marriage. She tried to oppose the decision, but all her pleas fell on the deaf ears of the parents.
She was at her wit’s end, but found hope. She sought help from the Balika Mancha, a body constituted in her school empowered to act as a watchdog against child marriage. The volunteers informed the teacher assigned to look after the platform and eventually, her marriage was called off due to the timely intervention of the District Magistrate.
She was later awarded the Rashtriya Bal Puraskar for her courageous role against child marriage. She is among 170 girls rescued and brought back to school.
“In the South Tripura district, particularly, the number of girls dropping out of high schools is comparatively high. Ever since the Balika Mancha drive was instituted, around 170 girls have been brought back to schools who have quit their studies to get married at a tender age. And, the numbers of marriages canceled or postponed are even higher,” an official of the South Tripura district administration has said.
Many of the officials credited District Magistrate Saju Waheed for effective implementation of the model that is now being replicated by other districts of Tripura as well. The Government of Tripura is now considering appointing a nodal officer to look after the activities of Balika Mancha all over the state.
Although Waheed could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, officials who have closely monitoring Balika Mancha in the South Tripura district said, “In the Sabroom subdivision alone, 107 school girls who quit studies due to marriage have been reinstated in their classes. They are now being provided with extra classes and care so that they can catch up with the syllabus. The District Magistrate had worked very hard to make sure this initiative sees the light of success.”
On being asked about the composition of Balika Mancha, an official of the Tripura education department said, “In schools, we ask students to volunteer for this group. Volunteers are selected from Class VIII, IX, X, XI, and XII. As the group completes, a teacher is assigned to the group. Whenever they come across any information, they raise the alarm by informing the in-charge teacher. That teacher shares the intel with agencies such as district administration, child line, and police to ensure that child marriage, abuse, or any other atrocities on the girl children could be stopped.”
Meanwhile, District Magistrate Khowai started a similar initiative called ‘Chesta’. Speaking to EastMojo, District Magistrate Khowai, Chandni Chandran said, “On February 26, we launched our child marriage prevention initiative called Chesta. Yes, Balika Mancha is an integral part of it but Chesta has a lot of new components. After the launch of our initiative, we have stopped four marriages in the Khowai district. Three informants who shared their input with the district administration were rewarded with rupees one thousand each. We have constituted Balika Manchas in all high schools without fail.”
Chandran also said that adolescent girls are prone to this evil social custom.
In West Tripura also, a district that has a larger share of urban areas than others, Balika Mancha is taking the lead in the prevention of child marriages. “We have constituted Balika Mancha in 162 High schools. All are functioning and apart from teaching these groups are conducting awareness drives as well,” said District Magistrate West Tripura Dr Vishal Kumar.
The Chairperson of the Tripura Commission for Protection of Child Rights (TCPCR) has also taken notes of the progress that stand-alone districts have made over the years in the prevention of child marriages.
Taking a cue from the methods adopted for engaging students as secret networks for the collection of information, the TCPCR has launched its new policy called the Children’s Club.
“We have taken up the children’s club project because Balika Mancha is being monitored by the district administration and it doesn’t have a state-level cohesive approach. We have directed all the schools across the state to form Children’s Clubs and through these groups, we shall be able to access crucial information related to all sorts of abuse that children face,” said Debbarma.
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