Worried About The Number Of Early Marriages Soaring After The Idul Fitri Holiday, The Mataram Education Office Forms A Feminine Section In Every Middle School

Head of the Mataram City Education Office H Lalu Fatwir Uzali. (Photo: ANTARA)

MATARAM - The Education Office of Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara Province, has opened a female section in every junior high school/equivalent level as an effort to prevent early marriage among students.

"The female section is responsible for conducting regular activities with children related to efforts to prevent early marriage," said Head of the Mataram City Education Office (Disdik) H Lalu Fatwir Uzali in Mataram, Antara, Tuesday, May 10.

Fatwir made this statement in response to the potential for early marriage among students after the long Eid holiday, as in other regencies/cities in this area.

"So far, we have not received a report from the school principal if any of the students got married. Thank God, in these two years there have been no cases of student early marriage," he said.

The female section at each junior high school level works closely with the Indonesian Midwives Association (IBI) and the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) to provide education related to adolescent health, reproduction and others.

In addition, the school principal also works closely with the nearest puskesmas in the school environment to provide similar materials so that children can be occupied with various positive activities.

"Don't let the children fall for their close friends so that they trigger early marriage," he said.

Head of the Mataram City Women and Children Protection Service (DP2A) Hj Dewi Mardiana Ariany previously said that his party was also actively intensifying the socialization of marriage age maturation (PUP) as an effort to prevent early marriage, including through schools.

"Our PUP socialization works in collaboration with the Ministry of Religion and the Health Office, with materials according to the main tasks and functions," he said.

PUP socialization, he said, is intended to delay marriage until the minimum age limit is ready to start a family, to ensure that the first pregnancy occurs at a mature age, to delay the pregnancy of the first child if an early marriage has occurred, until the age of 21 years.

Early marriage, he added, can have an impact on the birth of structural poverty because children who marry early are mentally unprepared, prone to disputes, physical and psychological violence.

"In addition, pregnant children give birth to children, because mentally they are not ready to fight a little, which triggers a divorce, then the child is taken care of by the mother, so that structural poverty is born," he said.