Police investigate 8 marriages of grade seven girls

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early marriages

Police in Mpulungu district have launched investigations into a recent case in which eight grade seven girls aged between 13 and 15 years-old have allegedly been married off by their parents.
This follows a spate of rampant Child marriages that have rocked Mpulungu district in the Northern province.

 

ZANIS reports that all the eight girls are from Nachupo Primary School who have been married-off in a space of one month prompting the education authorities in the district to report the matter to the Police.

 

The development has been confirmed by Mpulungu District Education Board Secretary Dennis Chisulo in an interview with ZANIS in Mpulugu today.

He said he received the disturbing report of school going teenage girls who were married off by guardians and parents at Nachupou Primary.

 

Mr. Chisulo warned that his office would not sit idle until perpetrators of the practice were brought to book.

He disclosed that his office has reported the matter to the police and the issue was being investigated.

 

Mr. Chisulo further disclosed that the parents and guardians to the girls have been summoned to appear before the Police Victim Support Unit (VSU) on Monday next week.

He said the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) and the Forum for Advancement of Women Educationists in Zambia (FAWEZA) have also been contacted to assist in resolving the matter.

 

Mr. Chisulo said his major interest was to take the girls back to school as most of them were expected to sit for grade seven examinations this year.

Child marriages have become a common trend in the rural parts of Mpulungu forcing education authorities to take proactive measures that would help scale-down the practice.

The practice is also retrogressive on the part of government which is spending huge resources every year on free primary education.

Zanis

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