Teen's Crusade against Child marriage, dropout

ABHIJEET CHATTERJEE, TT, Burdwan: A 17-year-old girl in Burdwan town has been visiting parents of schoolgirls to create awareness against child marriage and dropping out of school.

Class XII student Pomi Mahato is motivating the parents to send their daughters to school instead of forcing them to marry before they turn 18.

Pomi's crusade started when in Class IX she realised the importance of education after coming in contact with members of the Burdwan unit of World Vision India, an NGO that works to improve the lives and future of children in need.

With the assistance of the NGO, Pomi, the daughter of a motor mechanic, set up Happy Children's Club with schoolchildren -- mostly girls from her locality -- in 2016. The club members keep track of attempts to marry off minor girls. They go around and counsel poor parents about their children who have dropped out of school.

Pomi has already stopped three child marriages in her locality with the help of the administration and also brought back five dropouts to school in the past one year.

Pomi Mahato with the award. Picture byAnirban Hazra "Initially I was not getting much of a response, but now we have 300 members in the club. We have already stopped the marriage of three minor girls and ensured that five dropouts return to schools. We are getting help and encouragements from the administration," said Pomi, the president of the club.

She studies in Harisabha High School in Burdwan town and will take her higher secondary exam next year.

The only daughter of Goutam Mahato, who works at a garage in Burdwan town, Pomi received Birangana, a bravery award given by the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights, on November 20 in Calcutta.

In rural Bengal, many girl children from economically weak families are forced by their parents to quit studies and marry before they attain the age of 18. Boys too are on many occasions forced to leave studies to earn and support their families.

Sudeshna Mukherjee, the district child protection officer of East Burdwan who had sent an officer to accompany Pomi to Calcutta to receive the bravery award, said the girl was doing a wonderful job.

"Pomi and the other members of the club have been working hard to stop child marriage and bring dropouts back to school. We are providing them whatever help they need from us," Mukherjee said. Pomi's father, Goutam, said that when she was a child she used to be quiet. "As she grew up, she became more outgoing." "I am a poor motor mechanic and had plans to get my only daughter married off after her higher secondary exam. However, I have now dropped the idea after she counselled me. She wants to study and work to spread the message that girls should be self-dependent," he said.

Pomi said she wanted to be a postgraduate in social work and choose the children's sector as her area of work.