Covid crisis may push dropout of girls, trafficking, child marriage in remote areas: Assam child rights panel

The economic distress caused by the Covid-19 crisis may further push dropout of girls, trafficking and child marriage in Assam - more so in the interior villages along the Indo-Bhutan border and in the riverine areas, Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASCPCR) has said.

"Many living in the interior villages close to Indo-Bhutan work as migrant labourers in the neighbouring country. But as Bhutan prohibited entry of outsiders for long due to Covid-19 crisis, many lost jobs. They did not get jobs locally due to the lockdown and its aftermath. This has caused so much economic distress that many such migrants labourers are struggling to run their families. As they can't meet their basic needs, education of their children may be the worst sufferer. As education of the girls are always neglected in such families with low literacy, many girls may be stopped from going to schools. Many many be married off early as that would reduce the economic burden on their parents. Similarly, human traffickers may take advantage of the situation and take the girls out with the promise of providing them jobs or education," Naba Bujarbaruah, a member of ASCPCR, who is in-charge of education, told DH.

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The commission made a field inspection of some interior villages along the Indo-Bhutan border in western Assam after 40 children, inlcluding 16 girls were rescued from Sikkim in July 2021. The children were taken out by some "middlemen" in the villages with the promise of jobs and education, but they were rescued, police had said. The children belong to Adivasi, Bodo, Nepali and Koch Rajbongshi communities. Police have rescued nearly 200 children from Assam in the past one year from the clutches trffickers or while being taken out from the state taking advantage of the economic crisis being faced by their families.

He said studies have found that drop out of girls is more among students between class five to nine.

"The situation is worrisome in many such villages in Chirang, Kokrajhar, Baksa and Udalguri districts. The commission has already initiated a pilot project for awareness meets in 679 villages in Baksa district involving the ASHA workers, labour department, education department, police and other agencies," he said.

According to a statement tabled in the Parliament by the union education ministry in 2020, Assam registered 10.01 per cent dropout in primary classes (I to V) and 33.7 per cent in secondary classes during 2017-18.

Bujarbaruah said riverine areas or the chars as they are locally called may see a rise in child marriage cases as schools have remained shut for long due to Covid-19 cases and poverty and joblessness have become acute.

"Child marriage has been rampant among Muslims living in the riverine areas. This has been one of the major challenges in the state for a long time. But the situation may further worsen given the fact that many such people lost their livelihood due to Covid-19 crisis," he said. Barpeta, Dhubri, Goalpara and parts of Kokrajhar has already reported increase in cases of child marriage since the first lockdown was imposed in March 2020.

"We have already held meetings with religious leaders such as imams to check child marriage. As the imams are respected in their society, they can encourage people to stop child marriage. The initiative has already helped prevent some incidents of child marriage, particularly in Dhubri and Barpeta," Bujarbaruh said.

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