An awareness campaign on child, early
and forced marriages through debate took place at Government High School Ntumbaw in Donga Mantung Division of the North West Region on May 18, 2015. The
campaign which seeks to promote the education of the girl child was organized
the Global Network for Rights and Development- GNRD in collaboration with HOFNA
Cameroon. In a purely intellectual exercise, the students of Government High
School Ntumbaw shared knowledge and ideas on whether it should be education
before marriage or marriage before education. For close to 2 hours, the
panelists showcased the ups and downs on some societal realities that have
hampered the education of the girl child.
At the end of the debate, the students
all agreed that society would progress if child, early and forced marriages are
abolished. Besides, the students also argued that when a woman is educated, the
entire family is and so is humanity as well. More so, they also raised
pertinent points like forced marriages lead to frustration and majority end up
as prostitutes.
Working in groups, teachers and students
also participated in the Action 2015, an exercise which engaged them to add
their voices to the global action movement. More to that, students and teachers
also voiced out what they want for Cameroon post 2015.
Addressing students and teachers during
the exercise, Madame Christelle Bay, Cameroon Coordinator of GNRD expressed
gratitude to the students and teachers for intellectual exercise. She called on
all the students to be ambassadors of the awareness campaign to “Stop Child
Marriage!” Furthermore, Madame Christelle Bay also disclosed that the leading
cause of death for girls 15-19 years is early pregnancy complications. Majority
of them she added are as a result of early and forced marriages. She also took
time to share her Yali experience with the students. There was euphoria and
jubilations when she revealed that while in the United States of America, she had
the opportunity to shake hands with US President Barrack Obama.
Talking to this reporter at the end of
the exercise one of the panelist, Daouda Adamu said that he was very impressed
by the various presentations. He said as a matter of fact, education is very
important for the girl child. He thanked GNRD for selecting GHS Ntumbaw to
benefit from the laudable initiative. On the other hand, Sule Ethel said that
the exercise was timely and will go a long way to change lives in the
communities, adding that even though Mboscuda has been encouraging girl child
education, the magnitude of what GNRD is doing will surely change these
obnoxious beliefs.
The choice of GHS Ntumbaw was not by
error given that approximately 85% of the population is Muslims. In the past,
early marriages were rampant among Muslim girls. As the Principal of GHS
Ntumbaw puts it, he is sure the awareness will curb the phenomenon of forced
marriages.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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