Empowering Young Girls Through Education: Assam’s Bold Move to End Child Marriages

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma unveils a groundbreaking scheme to provide financial aid to girl students, aiming to curb child marriage and teenage pregnancy in Assam.

The Assam state government has unveiled a historic policy to enable the young girls to go to school, this programme is aimed at ending child marriage and teenage pregnancy in the state. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurated the “Nijut Moina” scheme formally on Thursday enables one month monetary aid to young girl students pursuing from +2 to post-graduate standard in government-established and government-aided institution.

Consequently, there is the Nijut Moina scheme that is believed to go a long way in checkmating child marriages that are rampant in Assam. The scheme was launched after a series of severe actions against child marriages in the last one year, wherein Assam Police arrested over 4,000 people involved in the unlawful activities.

“This scheme is therefore general as it aims at reaching out to every girl student in the region and yet those who do not wish to be part of it can opt out of it voluntarilty as stated by the honourable Chief Minister, Sarma,” said Sarma.

Financial Support to Encourage Higher Education

It provides funds nine months of the academic year, which is broken down in the following manner. Based on the said scheme, the higher secondary level learner will be given an allowance of one thousand rupees per month. For undergraduate, the amount is Rs 1,250 per month while for the post graduate students, the scholarship shall be Rs 2,500 per month for the same term.

Initially, the benefits are provided for the student’s first year, but they may be extended based on two key conditions: they must attend the specified number of classes and must not violate the acceptable student conduct.

Exclusions and Conditions of the Scheme

However, the scheme has certain failings and shortcomings and these are as follows; It is not relevant to those girls who get married while in higher secondary school or at the undergraduate level. Also, the daughters of ministers, MLAs, MPs, the beneficiaries who have already been provided scooties by the state government for getting first division marks at the higher secondary level will not be allowed to avail this monetary assistance.

Addressing a Pressing Social Challenge

What makes this effort pressing is the data reflecting on the state of affairs highlighted by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2019-21. This survey further showed that 31% of the respondents perceived that they were highly likely to be selected for other organizations’ jobs in the next one year. 8 percent of girls in Assam have already attained motherhood in the age group of 20-24 years, which clearly means that many of them were forced into early marriage touching on the legal age of 18 years. Worryingly, approximately 30% of women in the state relate being married at the age of 18-21 years. The early marriages which prevail in such societies result in an inability to go to school and lack of proper nutrition among the young girls; they are prone to domestic violence.

Chief Minister Sarma described the extent of the calamity especially in the central and the lower parts of Assam. For instance, in South Salmara and Dhubri, as many as 50.8 percent of girls are/were married before their eighteenth birthday. This is evident because at times they get pregnant and become mothers at the youthful age of 12-13. The only weapon that we have to fight this problem is education. The minister stated that if girls are allowed to be in school even for extra one or two years, we can be in able to brought down the incidences of child marriage and teenage pregnancies.

The Nijut Moina scheme MW has a target of covering 10 lakh beneficiaries in the four years beginning with a proposed outlay of Rs 1,500 crore. This ambitious initiative is an indication of the Assam government’s focus on one of the most urgent social issues facing this state by endeavouring to make knowledge the key to success that will guarantee a better and safer future for young girls.

Financial incentives are intended to motivate the government to get the girls back to school, thus postponing marriage and child bearing. This strategy liberates young women and assists in rebuilding the society and the economy of Assam among other benefits. In this regard the Nijut Moina scheme illuminates a new day that has dawned on countless girls in the state.