Early marriage results in girls dropping out of school in Unity State

By Bonifacio Taban Kuich

September 17, 2012 (KAMPALA) – Early marriage in South Sudan among young girls has become a big challenge facing from parents. Deu to ethnics’ cultural background in South Sudan some communities are forcing their daughters to get marriage before reaching an approximate age of taking responsibility toward the family living.

In Unity state secondary school some girls told Sudan Tribune, most of their colleagues are being forced by parents to have a love with some men of which she had not contacted ever.

Cultural believes within societies in South Sudan made it difficult to change as many look their daughter images as kind of wealthy to fight out poverty line in the community.

In Unity state young girls are reported by their colleagues to dropout from study due to parents forcefully marriage. The practice of forcing girls to get marriage at earlier ages is commonly among Nuer and Dinka of South Sudan.

The harder issue parents do not consider the ages of the daughter and maturity whether she can be able to produce, but their interest lying on getting more cows as the pride in the community.

The more girls you had in the society, “the wealthy you are”. Here worse decision parents took to handover their daughters to men with enough cows, but does compare the different ages between his daughters and men, but their focus attention only dowry.

Among Nuer girls getting marriage at around 15-17 years, which conflicting with child act laws of republic of South Sudan. In South Sudanless than 15% can read and write making the law to be ineffective in the societies.

Mary Nyapini Wal is a student at Bentiu Secondary school, strongly condemned the ongoing practice of forcing her colleagues into marriage by some parents. She added that there are a lot of girlsdenied to their studies due to parents’ decision of putting dowry as priority.

“Some of the family they can force the girl to have marriage, and then they can receive money or cows, that is why most of the girls they are escaping away from the schools and some of them they don’t have support in schools like uniforms and what so on”, said Wal.

Wal urges on government to assist those girls study at both primary and secondary schools whose parents’ die in order not give up with their study because of lucking financial supports. She deeply extended her calls to None Governmental Organization’s to support the disparate children to continue with learning in education study.

Gatkuoth Mayik Kom an education director for Bentiu County headquarters saying the state Ministry of Education in collaboration with WINROCK International are to support girls at the secondary level that luck funding supports.

He added that the issue of early marriage is the most common during old age society but he claiming that no one reported the case that her parents are forcing her for marriage to their office for government to take actions.

Kom adding that the sponsoring girls are those at the secondary level only to pay their school fees, but he confirm basic needs are not given to students. He also confirms those without parents’studies at primary school have no access to sponsorship according to the organization policy.

South Sudanese people in credit women role in the societies, they refer them as weak sex that can only take care of children at home, but forgetting their roles in nationwide building.

(ST)