‘Reduce incidence of child marriage’
JAKARTA: Child marriage can deprive children the opportunity to access quality education and obtain decent work, said Indonesian Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim.
In an Antara News agency report, he urged all stakeholders to work towards reducing the incidence of child marriage, which has a negative impact on the children’s quality of life.
“Child marriage can deprive the rights of and opportunities for children to access quality education and get decent work to build a prosperous life,” the minister said at a seminar on Thursday .
The Indonesian government, through Law Number 16 of 2019, has raised the minimum age of marriage to 19 years for men and women, he said.
A person is considered physically and mentally mature to enter into a marriage at that minimum age, and understand the point of marriage as well as produce healthy and quality offspring, he added.
Nadiem, however, admitted that in reality, the prevalence of child marriage in Indonesia is still high at 11.2 per cent.
“Indonesia ranks eighth in the world and second in Asean in terms of child marriage,” he said.
The education sector, therefore, can play an important role in eliminating child marriage, ensuring that children who are forced to marry can continue their studies.
“In Indonesia, child marriage is a multi-dimensional phenomenon involving structural and cultural factors, so this condition needs to be responded to by the education sector to form a public understanding of the importance of physical, mental and financial readiness in building a happy family,” he added.
The minister also commended the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA) Ministry on the Declaration of the National Movement for the Maturity of Marriage to Improve the Quality of Indonesian Human Resources in Indonesia.
He considered the document as an effort to build strong synergy between all parties in preventing child marriages and improving the quality of the family in the best interests of Indonesian children.