CATHERINE BWALYA
Choma
SEVEN marriages involving underage children have been dissolved in the last six months in Chikanta chiefdom, Dundumwenzi constituency, in Kalomo district.
Chief Chikanta disclosed in an interview yesterday that the marriages involved teenagers aged between 14 and 17 years, some of whom had eloped.
“The first step we are taking now to end child marriage in the chiefdom is to dissolve the unions, whether they were official and approved by the parents or the two eloped.
We ensure that the girl is put back in school,” he said.
Chief Chikanta said, however, that some girls resist being taken away from the marriages but that they later co-operate after counselling and gladly go back to school.
“Some parents sometimes also try to be difficult but once we show them the law, they allow for the dissolving of the marriage.
Other parents find it difficult to welcome their children back into their homes, especially in a case where they eloped, but we make them see the need to do so,” he said.
Chief Chikanta said the chiefdom is also implementing Government’s re-entry policy by ensuring that girls who fall pregnant are re-enrolled into school after delivery.
He said with the free education policy, families are being encouraged to ensure that girls who fall pregnant are allowed to continue with school after delivery…https://enews.daily-mail.co.zm/welcome/home
