Reminding Schools To Prioritize, Ganjar: Don't Ask Girls To Get Married Quickly

Presidential Candidate number 3 Ganjar Pranowo visited the Darussalam Timur Islamic Boarding School, Magelang, Central Java, Sunday (17/12/20223). (ANTARA/Narda Margaretha Sinambela)

Presidential candidate (candidate) number 3 Ganjar Pranowo left a message to mothers in Magelang not to urge their daughters to get married at school.

The message was conveyed by Ganjar when he visited the Darussalam Timur Islamic Boarding School, Magelang, Central Java (Central Java), Sunday, December 17.

Initially, Ganjar asked mothers to encourage boys to attend education to college.

"Mom, if you have a school-age child, you should go to school. The high school, right? Agree?" said Ganjar.

The mothers also agreed to Ganjar's invitation to send their children to school as high as possible. "Agreed," said the mothers.

Not only that, Ganjar asked girls to go to school up to a higher level and not rush into marriage.

"If you have a daughter, it's the same. High school. Agree? Don't rush to get married, okay," said Ganjar.

According to him, boys and girls have the same right to get an education to college.

"So that later on, girls and boys have the same rights to be able to go to high school," he concluded.

Based on UNICEF data as of the end of 2022, Indonesia is ranked 8th in the world and 2nd in ASEAN with a total of almost 1.5 million cases.

In addition, according to data from the Ministry of Empowerment and Child Protection, religious courts received 55,000 applications for early marriage dispensation throughout 2022 or almost double the number of similar files in the previous year.

Until 2022, women under the age of 16 were the most affected by this case, which was 14.15 percent.

This prevalence increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by factors such as rising school dropouts, declining family economic conditions, compliance with religion and customs, and the influence of early married colleagues.

However, the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) noted that the number of early marriages in Indonesia showed a downward trend. This conclusion was obtained by calculating the number of women who were pregnant or gave birth at the age of 15-19 years.

If in 2013 the number of women under 19 years of age who gave birth, pregnancy and marriage was recorded at 36 per 1,000 population, as of July 2023 the number was recorded at 26 per 1,000 population.

BKKBN targets this figure to continue to be suppressed until the number of women under the age of 19 who give birth, pregnancy and marriage reaches 22 per 1,000 population.

The General Election Commission (KPU) of the Republic of Indonesia has appointed three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates as participants in the 2024 presidential election, namely Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar with serial number 1, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka number 2, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud Md serial number 3.

The campaign period has also been scheduled from November 28, 2023 to February 10, 2024, then the voting schedule will be on February 14, 2024.