During The COVID-19 Pandemic, 800 Students In NTB Were Involved In Early Marriage

ILLUSTRATION / PIXABAY

MATARAM - The West Nusa Tenggara Province Education and Culture Office noted that as many as 800 students in the region got married at an early age in 2020.

"In total there are 800 of our students who are married. Those who have reported officially, we don't know other than that," said Head of the NTB Education and Culture Office, H Aidy Furqan in Mataram, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, May 5.

Aidy said that 800 students who married at an early age were dominated by female students, while male students were few.

"So they are spread across a number of schools in NTB and the most dominant are female students," he said.

Aidy Furqan revealed that his party did not know for sure what caused these students to decide to marry early while still being a student. However, he emphasized that it was not because of the elimination of face-to-face learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"If what is the cause, we cannot detect that matter. Is there a connection with corona or not, because this is 2020 data while 2021 has not been recorded," explained Aidy.

According to him, even though these students were married until they already had children, his party did not immediately prohibit these students from attending school. They continue to study even though they were not in the previous school, but they continue in open schools.

"Those who are married do not immediately drop out of school. We are looking for a solution so that they continue their studies. The pattern is that we are looking for teachers as teachers to continue studying in open schools. Just because schools are open, they don't wear uniforms," he said.

Regarding the large number of students who married at an early age, his party has appealed to the community, especially parents, to keep and supervise their sons and daughters. In fact, to reduce the rate of early marriage, NTB Province already has a Regional Regulation on the Prevention of Child Marriage.

"Seeing the high development we have implemented and are looking for solutions to suppress this problem, because if it hampers it seriously. One of them is through the implementation of regional regulations and so far it is effective. We also ask the community to also press so that early marriage can be prevented," he said