West Bengal India has the highest rates of child marriage in India. Almost half of woman 20 to 24 marries before the age of 18. It is a problem driven my poverty, people living in poverty want another earner so they look to their children.
But one little girl said "No". Jakir Ansari sent Arfa Khatun his 8 year old doughtier to work as a maid and planned to marry her at 13 like he did to his other daughters but she said "No". Initially Jakir didn't accept the decision so Arfa turned to NCLP for help.
“My elder sisters were not ready to get married at that early age, but I am more determined than my sisters,” said Arfa. “And I’m getting support from my school.”
Arfa and her teachers convinced Jakir. She will remain in school and not get married until she is ready.
“The children love to come to school,” said Gulam Rabbani Ansary, the girls’ teacher at the NCLP school. “When a girl is educated she will take care of all of her children. A girls education is an asset for her entire family.”
The power of the word "no". Hopefully this will get other girls and their families to make the same decisions. One of the problems behind poverty is a lack of education. If in poor area there was more of a focus on education, it could help allot.
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That is simply great. Even in such a conservative and rural environment, there is hope. The girl had shown that she can stand up for her rights, and we all should too. Kudos to Arfa Khatun!
Kudos to her indeed.
Being smart enough, brave enough and determined enough to make such a decision and stick to it at age 8, she has quite a future ahead of her.