At 16 years of age, Nalwoga has been eager to continue her Senior 3 studies. Unfortunately, her uncle has different ideas. Since school has been off, he has been looking at marrying her off to the eldest son of his best friend who returned from Kyeyo recently. Nalwoga wants to continue with school but she sees little choice of avoiding this ‘arranged marriage’ by her uncle.
WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?
Firstly, it is criminal to participate, arrange or even marry any person who is below the age of 18 years. The law only allows marriage between people who are 18 years and above. It does not matter whether the permission of the child, or the parents has received, this marriage is criminal and punishable by law. This is called early marriage
Secondly, by law, all children have a right to an education and must be given equal opportunity to attain education, if a parent or guardian decides that a girl should not continue in school because of her gender, then this is discriminatory. The law also says that no child shall be deprived by any person of education by reason of religious or other beliefs.
If you know of any child who is being denied of their right to get an education, please report this to the authorities. There is a desk at police and an LC 1 representative at village level who can assist any person who is being deprived of their right to an education. On the other hand if you know anyone who is arranging or participating in the marriage of a child, this must be reported to the police immediately to protect the child from defilement and marriage before her time.
#BarefootLaw
#osutayusuf
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