Distance Education for Social Development in Bangladesh

Abstract

In social development, marriage is a key event and milestone in the lives of every individual. Marriage for women before the age of 18 is common in rural Bangladesh. It is associated with a number of poor social and physical outcomes for the young woman and her children. In the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) State of the World’s Children 2009 report, findings show that early marriage is pervasive in Bangladesh, with 64 percent of girls married before aged 18, as IRIN News reports. Early pregnancy often results from early marriage : about one-third of girls aged 15 to 19 in Bangladesh are currently either mothers or pregnant. There are many reasons for an early marriage, but the most vital reasons among them are poverty, superstition or local custom, and lack of awareness. Although early marriage is legally prohibited, occurrences of early marriage are still happening in most rural areas of the country. In Bangladesh, under the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 the age for the bride is set at 18. Along with this act, early marriage is punishable by law. Bangladesh also acceded to the UN Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages on 5 October 1998. These laws, however, have had little impact on the incidence of early marriage here. To help prevent early marriage, a wide range of individuals and organizations, from community leaders to international bodies, are active engaged in education for social development. We need to create better awareness among the people, particularly the poor. Unfortunately, these aspects have long been ignored in our traditional school education system. The present study reports on the effectiveness of creating awareness on the socio-legal impact of early marriage in Bangladesh through the distance education mode.