Burundi, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe: teachers and students pledge to end child marriage!

Teachers all over the world have committed to working with their students to raise awareness about the negative impacts of child marriage, and to pledge to end child marriage in their communities.

In Burundi, child marriage is allowed if parents and the local government give consent, and 19% of young women were married as children. At École Amie de l'Enfant in Bujumbura this week, teachers and student came together to learn how child marriage is a breach of children's rights, which can lead to gender-based violence and child sexual abuse.

Mali has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. 16% of women aged 20-24 were married by the age of just 15 years old, and more than half of young women were married as children. On Monday, teachers and students at École Jutta, Bamako held a discussion on child marriage, and took the pledge together.

In Sierra Leone, community-based organisation Community Solidarity to Improve Lives Sierra Leone (ComSIL-SL) worked with more than 350 students and teachers at Prospect Academy Imatt in Freetown. After a lesson explaining what child marriage is and its impacts, a student-led pledge was made by the school pupils, and a teacher led the pledge for the adults. Almost a third of young women in Sierra Leone were married as children, and it is vital for communities and schools to work together to combat this practice.

In Zimbabwe, students at Kwekwe High School took part in a lesson and discussed the ways child marriage could be eradicated. The most recent data is from 2019, and it shows that 34% of young women in Zimbabwe were married as children. However, in 2016 Zimbabwe completely banned child marriage, making the minimum age for all marriages 18. It is possible that this change in the law could have lead to a decrease in Zimbabwe's child marriage rate beyond 2019, but it remains critical for children and communities to understand their rights regarding child marriage. Events in schools like Kwekwe High School are an important step towards ending child marriage.