Nearly two-fifths of TN women who marry young are between 11 and 15 years, shows a study. While no girl went to school after marriage, many were in and out of hospitals for abortions, complications during labour and for poor health, it found.The ‘ Explorative Study on Forced Early Girl Child Marriage in Tamil Nadu’, by Samakalvi Iyakkam – Tamil Nadu and Child Rights and You, surveyed more than 200 women, all married below 18, from 10 districts including Chennai. A combination of reasons including lack of access to schools, toilets and poverty forced them to marry early, it found.At least 51% studied only up to Class VIII, 48% studied till Class X and 77% were forced to drop out due to lack of toilets in schools. Girls in the 12-18 age group required toilets and their absence forced many to drop out, it pointed out. “Some had no access to schools in their localities or neighbourhoods and they just dropped out. This made them more vulnerable,” said Christu Raj, state coordinator of Samakalvi Iyakkam.At least 82% said poverty forced them into early marriage and 61.4% claimed their parents forced them into it as they considered them a burden. Most were married off to men at least twice their age. “We must strictly implement the Right to Education Act (RTE). This will ensure free and compulsory education for young girls. It is also the state’s duty to provide adequate infrastructure in schools so they don’t drop out. Several government wings must act on complaints received on child marriage quickly,” said Samakalvi Iyakkam secretary C Selvakumar.Nearly 74% said they had frequent abortions and more than 15% delivered premature babies and had miscarriages. At least one in three young mothers had complications including excess blood loss during delivery, resulting in overall poor health.T K Shaanthy Gunasingh, president of the Obstetric and Gynaecological Society of Southern India, said studies had shown educating girls can reduce teenage pregnancy.

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